


Seasons

by JJLives



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Friendship/Love, Love, Sexual Content, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:22:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 39,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJLives/pseuds/JJLives
Summary: Blake never believed in soulmates, the concept just didn't make sense to her. Was it the person's soul or their life experiences that made them a perfect match for her? What would it mean if major events forever changed who her soulmate was before they even met? If there are alternate versions of her soulmate for every season, how many will Blake have to meet, care for, and fall in love with before her soul recognizes its other half?
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 8
Kudos: 52
Collections: Bumbleby Big Bang 2020





	1. Summer

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, here is my contribution to the Bumbleby Big Bang. I hope you hall like it. I had fun working on it. 
> 
> Be sure to check out Battlesnow's art. It is all incredible and the pieces created for this story are amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better partner with how understanding they've been with all my delays on getting this done. lol.
> 
> Links to art:
> 
> https://battlesnow36.tumblr.com/post/634899401024897024/hey-this-are-my-piece-for-bumblebybigbang
> 
> https://twitter.com/B4ttleSn0w/status/1328135933003255809

_Happenstance is a funny thing. One wrong turn, one moment’s hesitation, or one last minute change of plans can throw someone onto a completely different path they’d never intended to travel._

It was late when a loud knock sounded at her door, the force of which was enough to shake the picture frames on the adjacent wall. There was only one person she knew that could bang that forcefully on a door that wasn’t hers. Blake groaned, sinking deeper into the cushions of her reading chair. She hoped if she ignored the first knock Weiss would get the hint and leave her alone as she was not in the mood to deal with her sourpuss, poor-me attitude. The lights had just been dimmed, a cup of her favourite night time tea—chai with a dab of condensed milk—sat on the table next to her, and her fuzzy blanket was wrapped snugly around her with a book opened and resting in her lap. It was her bedtime ritual. Why must Weiss continually interrupt her at this ungodly time of night?

Her plan to simply ignore her intruder backfired as a few moments later a louder knock sounded at the same time her cell blared out the chorus of Same Soul by PVRIS. Both made Blake jump so high she landed half on the floor. Gripping her beating heart through the fabric of her tank top she flipped open her phone and pressed it to her ear.

“I know you’re in there, I can hear your phone ringing. Open the door.” Weiss punctuated the last three words with more rapts to the wooden slab keeping her at bay. 

“Did you ever think I didn’t answer the door because I’m busy?” Blake kicked at the blanket trying to dislodge her now tangled limbs. Leaning to one side, she yelped as the hard corner of the book she’d been reading bit sharply into her hip.

“Are you alright?” The voice coming through the receiver turned worried at the sound of her pain. 

“Just peachy. Why are you here?” Blake huffed, realizing her relaxing evening had been hijacked.

“I would tell you that if you’d just answer the door.” Another rap on the wood reminded Blake the owner of the voice was still waiting in the hall. 

Another twist freed one of her legs and she used it to drag her body upright. “I would happily let you in but I’m kind of tangled up in this damn… Ugh.” She stumbled from the twisted pile, leaning heavily on the arm of her chair as the blanket threatened to trip her on her final bid for her freedom. Finally she reached the door and swung it open in irritation. “This better be good Schnee.”

Weiss stood as pristine as ever in her blue button down t-shirt and black jeans. Her light, airy makeup looked as if she’d recently applied it and there wasn’t a single strand of her silver hair out of place, half pinned up in an extravagant bun at the back of her head. She looked ready to tackle the day instead of the reality that the sun had already set. In comparison, Blake looked like a homeless bum crawling out of the dark gutter that was her apartment. Her sweatpants had a stain on the left leg that she’d long forgotten its origin, her tank top, though clean, was wrinkled from where she’d grabbed it stuffed in the back of her dresser drawer, and her black hair was probably sticking up in all different directions. Her fingers came up to run through and tame it as best she could. 

Weiss didn’t miss the motion and scoffed at Blake’s half hearted attempt at making herself presentable. She didn’t know why Weiss’ opinion mattered in that moment. It was her apartment and she’d been prepared for an evening alone, not for company. Weiss was the one to turn up unannounced, but the look that was shot her way as her sophisticated friend brushed past her made her feel ashamed of her appearance. With a heavy sigh she pushed the door closed, flicking on the ceiling light and the room was flung from her preferred darkness. 

Letting her eyes adjust to the brighter luminescence she made her way to the kitchen as Weiss made herself comfortable on the couch. “One sugar right?” Weiss’ affirmation came in the form of a simple nod of her head. It was typical of Weiss to show up unannounced, but where she usually jumped right into a long rant about what brought her over, today she was eerily silent. Her outward appearance, as usual, gave no clues to the inner turmoil she was feeling. Blake’s heart ached at knowing the silence meant Weiss was still very much in a bad way.

“The cup is hot, so be careful.” Blake warned, delicately placing it in her friends waiting hands. But instead of taking a sip, the cup was immediately forgotten as Weiss brought it to rest on her knee, fingers still wrapped comfortingly around the warm ceramic of the mug. Blake took up her previous spot on her reading chair, bringing her own tea to her lips. It soothed her less watching her friend’s internal struggle than it had ten minutes prior. When many minutes passed in a very uncomfortable silence Blake knew Weiss needed a push. “What’s on your mind?”

“What are you doing next week?” 

The sudden question sent Blake’s mind reeling. She’d expected another story about Neptune and how she’d caught him with another girl, even though it’d been weeks since their break up. Or perhaps an angry rant about her father, Jacques, and how his overbearing nature was driving her crazy once again; that talk was one that happened on a weekly basis.

“I don’t have any plans as of yet.” Blake answered carefully as conversations with Weiss tended to have a way of backfiring on her to where she’d agree to something without really meaning to. “I have a few freelance pieces I need to edit before the end of the month though.”

“You wouldn’t happen to want an all paid vacation to the Bahamas would you?”

She eyed her friend skeptically. “What’s the catch?” The twist of Weiss’ waist angled her away from Blake and that one move clued her in to what the catch must be. “Please tell me this isn’t your annual family thing.”

“Please, Blake. I’ll owe you big.” Weiss turned to pleading, her ice like stare melting as tears threatened to make an appearance.

“Please don’t cry,” Blake was quick to respond. “I can’t handle tears, you know that.” Setting her cold tea aside, she brought a hand up to massage her temple feeling a headache already forming. “You know I’d do anything for you…Anything, except that.”

“But it’s free!” 

“I know what _‘all paid vacation’_ means,” she scoffed but her tone lacked its usual bite at the panic behind her friend's voice. “You know your family hates me.”

“No they don’t.” The tilt of her head and the way she refused to meet Blake’s eye told another story. “Okay, not all of them do, Winter likes you.”

“Like is a little strong. She tolerates me at the best.”

“Well that still means she doesn’t hate you, right?” Weiss slumped into the cushions behind her and the bend in her spine told Blake more than any spoken words could. Weiss only showed physical weakness when her mental barriers were crumbling. 

“Can you just skip it this year? We could go on a little vacation of our own.” Blake stood and grabbed Weiss’ untouched tea. An unsettling quiet returned to the apartment and all she could do was refresh their cups with newly boiled water to busy herself. She didn’t do well with uncomfortable settings involving others, it was probably why she preferred to spend her evenings curled up reading a book. Reading about other people in these situations was far preferable to being in them herself. 

“I already told Father I’d go, and I made the horrible mistake of telling him Neptune was coming.” From the kitchen sink, Blake watched as her friend completely unraveled into a limp sobbing form of her former self. 

“Why in the world would you do that?” She placed the new drinks on the table and sat on the empty cushion beside Weiss this time. “You two broke up weeks and weeks ago.”

“I know!” Weiss whined through another sob and Blake tried to comfort her by placing a hand on her jerking shoulder. It felt awkward and she didn’t think she was bringing much help to Weiss, but after a few moments her friend ceased her spasms. “Thank you,” her quiet voice broke the silence. “This trip was planned months ago, when we were still together.”

“You have told your parents you guys broke up, right?” Blake questioned.

“Up until yesterday I thought maybe we might…”

“You thought you’d get back together.” Blake finished when it was clear Weiss would, or could not.

Weiss nodded. “When I saw him on a date with that other girl… I guess it finally hit me that we were really over.” Blake watched as Weiss put herself back together. If the Schnees were anything they were amazing actors, all perfecting the fake mask of total indifference. “But now the flights are paid for and it’s too late to cancel and I really, really don’t want to be alone with my family right now.” 

A heavy exhale left her as Blake fell into the cushion at her back. It was all Weiss needed to realize she’d won. “I’ll owe you.” Weiss smiled softly patting Blake’s knee, comforting roles having been switched. “And who knows maybe we’ll both find someone to get us out of these moods.”

“What mood? I am not in a mood,” she pouted. “You’re the one that just got dumped, not me.”

“You’re always in a mood.”

“Whatever, but I’m not looking for anyone to get me out of any _mood_.” Blake air quoted the last word as she rolled her eyes. Weiss was one of her closest friends but even she couldn’t always understand where Blake was coming from. Where Weiss and other girls her age tended to be perpetually seeking out a revolving door of relationships, Blake preferred to fly solo.

She was never one to believe in soulmates or true love. She didn’t put faith in there being some miraculous slice of a human being out there that would fit perfectly alongside the tattered remains of her own jagged puzzle piece. How could there only be one person in all the billions that was made for her and her alone? And how on earth was she supposed to find them if that were the case?

When she was young, she remembered rushing from her room and into her mother’s lap, pulling her attention to whatever recent book that had captured her attention and telling her she would one day find Prince Charming and settle down to have exactly three kids. Her mother would laugh and indulge her the way mothers do, imagining the three grandchildren she would then be able to spoil. Blake was sure most girls at that age believed in that romanticized version of love, though she’d soon grown out of that phase. As her books evolved from knights and princesses to something more realistic, so did her expectations on love. 

Bitter, she’d been called once, but that wasn’t it either. She still felt a thrill when reading of two characters falling in love, and she’d seen that kind of love reflected in the eyes of her own parents; she knew it was real. But where other girls were trusting fate to bring them their one true love, she realized that was a waste of time. Prince Charming wasn’t ever going to ride up on a white stallion to whisk her away from the drab college life she’d become accustomed to.

If she ever did fall in love it would be on her terms, when she was ready, and with someone she chose to give her heart to. She’d seen enough destroyed souls in her short lifetime from broken expectations and she was not in a hurry to join their ranks. She was fine waiting. She didn’t want a relationship yet anyway; there were just so many other things taking up her time, love could wait.

\----------

_The first time they meet isn’t anything special. There are no fireworks, or heavenly lights shining down upon them. The earth does not still nor does her heart race. There is no epiphany of a grand scale, just simply a passing of strangers._

It wasn’t how she pictured her summer break playing out. Blake’s plans had revolved around possibly finding a part time job (since her freelance editing was drying up for the summer) and sticking close to campus, spending her time reading and getting a head start on next semester’s study lists. They definitely did not consist of traveling halfway around the world to spend time with the stuck up members of one of her best friend’s family, that was for sure. 

Being from completely opposite spectrums of society, she found the Schnees extravagant to the extreme, and though Weiss wasn’t as self-righteous as the rest, her ideology—thanks to her upbringing— had been at the center of many of their arguments over the years. Knowing strongly worded debates would be the least of her problems with the other Schnees Blake took to avoiding them as much as possible, and she believed the feeling was mutual as the only reception she’d received from any of them since the Limo picked her and Weiss up was the sneer Whitley shot her on his way to first class when they boarded the plane. He was by far the most vocal with his aversion to her company. Now here they were, barely through the door of the five star resort they were checking into, no Schnee would be caught staying in less, and already Mr. Schnee was complaining at the quality of service.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, and she was sure his displeasure wasn’t really due to the lack of beach view in his room. Weiss even offered to trade him room keys since theirs seemed to be closer to what he wanted but he just waved her insistence away as if she were nothing more than an annoying bug pestering him. Blake was convinced he put up a show to prove his own importance and how any establishment should be lucky to have his patronage. This was confirmed when the manager came forward to check them in herself and Mr. Schnee calmed immediately upon her arrival. The pimple-faced teenager, who probably regretted his choice of summer job, quickly stepped aside when the woman placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. His sigh of relief was loud enough for her to hear almost across the lobby as he rushed to carry out some other job in the office behind the marble desk.

The manager’s blonde hair was pulled into a long braid that she purposefully pulled over her shoulder as she lifted a hand to Mr. Schnee. The movement caught his eye but Blake was sure her ample chest was what kept them glued there long after the braid stilled. From her position leaning up against the white marble pillar, away from the family, Blake wasn’t on the woman’s radar so she was free to observe without notice. Her white blouse was perfectly professional, however the open top two buttons might have been against policy and Blake caught the mischievous glint in her eye when Mr. Schnee took the bait. The spark was replaced with one of apology as she acknowledged the rest of the family with a sweep of her lilac irises. Hospitality being her bread and butter, the woman had perfected the soft gracious smile that she passed to all the silver haired Schnee’s before her.

“How may I help you?” Her voice, like silk, wove a calming aura around her agitated guests.

“Our room is unsatisfactory, we requested a beach view.” His haughty behaviour grated on Blake’s nerves but seemed not to phase the woman behind the desk. 

“I do apologize for the mistake on our part, let me get you moved.” Her smile… Blake was sure the woman knew the power of that smile as she handed Mr. Schnee another room key, fingers lingering for just a moment too long to be completely professional. “I’ve taken the liberty of sending up a bottle of our house wine. White?” Though the bottle probably cost no more than twenty dollars the ploy worked, and the family stepped away from the front desk after a few minutes with smiles replacing their frowns. 

When Blake straightened to follow Weiss the movement caught the manager’s attention. Her smile returned, expecting Blake to take up the spot the Schnees just vacated. With a tilt of her head towards the leaving family, her eyes rolled playfully behind their backs, in a sort of apology for keeping Blake waiting on their behalf. She returned the smile but internally enjoyed the priceless way the manager’s jaw dropped when instead of approaching the desk she turned to take her spot beside Weiss. All she could do was lift her shoulders in an offhand way as she followed the Schnees into the waiting elevator. 

As Blake turned to face the closing elevator doors she noticed the woman’s eyes still glued to her. The manager's hand lifted as her fingers wiggled in a flirtatious farewell. Blake bit her lip as her eyebrow lifted in surprise. Her actions seemed to amuse the woman further because her chin tilted to release a mirthful noise as the elevator finally blocked her from view.

\----------

_Vacations are freedom, from one's life and in some cases, freedom from oneself._

The lounges by the pool ended up being more peaceful than she’d first thought. Noisier than the hotel room she was dragged from but manageable. Her ankles, the only skin in direct sunlight, tingled in a pleasant rejuvenating kind of way, and although the woven umbrella above did a good job of blocking the rest of the sun’s rays the heat of the day still seeped into her skin, warming her. It was different with the humidity and the heavy air forced her diaphragm to contract more forcefully than back home but she found she preferred it to the dry heat of California where the sun burned her skin painfully. Even the splashes from the pool not far away and the many conversations carrying on around her were easily blocked out in favour of the way her body sank into the lounge, completely relaxed.

“Toss me the lotion, would you?” Weiss’ nasally demand brought her attention from the book in her lap, forcing the rigidity back into her limbs.

“I don’t understand why you even bother,” she commented, throwing the bottle across the small space between their chairs. “You know very well that you won’t get even the slightest tan.”

“Just because I won’t tan doesn’t mean I don’t like to feel the sun on my skin.” Weiss slathered on a healthy layer of sunscreen before returning the bottle for Blake to store back with their things. “I see you’re not planning on getting a tan.”

“I can’t stand reading in the sun, it hurts my eyes.” Weiss acknowledged her with an indignant snort that her mother would have been quick to reprimand. “I’m out here, aren’t I?” Blake adjusted the umbrella above her to cover the sun’s progression for the next hour or so. 

“You can’t spend the entire vacation in the room!”

“I _could_.” Though Blake was glad her friend dragged her from the room, she could still pretend it was a favour she agreed to reluctantly; having a Schnee owe you always came in handy at the most opportune times.

Weiss huffed. “That would be a waste of money.”

“Your money, you mean.” Blake relaxed once again, opening the book to resume her adventure. “I don’t care whether I spend the whole trip in the room or poolside.”

“My father’s money actually, but I’d rather not have him yelling at me for that on top of everything else.” Weiss settled, though her shoulders remained tense, shifting her shades to cover the crystal blue of her eyes. Blake didn’t need to see the glare she knew was aimed her way. For all their arguments on Weiss’ easy life as a rich kid, Blake knew better. It wasn’t easy for her to live up to such high expectations. Where her parents just wanted her to be happy and to keep her grades up, Weiss’ father wanted a say in everything to do with his daughter’s life, including what classes she took and where and with whom she spent her free time.

Most people would have jumped at the opportunity for a free resort vacation with one of the most influential families in America, but it wasn’t something Blake cared for, some of the trips she’d been dragged on turned out alright but most ranged from boring to plain uncomfortable. She never fit in with the high class socialites these vacations seemed to attract. Maybe it was her indifference to the whole thing that made Weiss partial to her company, she hated these expensive trips as much as Blake did for the most part. Or maybe she just liked having someone around to keep her grounded in reality as Blake wouldn’t hesitate to call her out if she reverted back to her genetic prissy behaviour, but Blake assumed more as time went on that Weiss might actually enjoy watching her squirm at the many balls and social events her family forced them to attend. It wasn’t something she enjoyed and the constant attention she received at them made her skin visibly crawl. She was Weiss’ physical representation of these events, but where her family, father especially, would not tolerate such displays of uncomfortableness from Weiss, her uneducated and charity case of a friend was saved punishment from such displays.

An hour passed before Weiss pulled her from her novel to rub sunscreen into the skin on her back. Blake took the time to reapply the lotion to her own exposed skin, even if she was sitting in the shade she knew she wasn’t completely safe from the sun’s radiation. No sooner had she sunk into the fantastical story world again when she was yanked from it so forcefully she almost threw the precious book to the concrete below her. 

“I am so sorry for that,” a woman’s voice spoke up as she rushed to Blake’s side. It was only when tanned skin and nimble fingers reached for her did Blake notice the wet volleyball resting on her lap. Water soaked into the fabric of her shorts and Blake quickly picked up the yellow intruder to toss it to the woman. “Thanks, again I do apologize.”

Blake caught a professional courtesy in her tone and when she looked up she was surprised to find the young manager that had helped them check in a few days ago. She’d traded her professional blouse and navy skirt for a bright yellow bikini which stood out against the darkened sun kissed skin the fabric clung to. Freckles dotted her arms and were speckled across the bridge of the woman’s nose. First surprised that they caught her attention in the natural light when she’d not noticed them in the lobby of the hotel, but her confusion soon vanished realizing the woman had no makeup on now to cover such blemishes. Her long hair was freed of its braid to flow, dripping, around her shoulders and halfway down her spine. It was obvious she’d just gotten out of the pool because there were droplets still gliding along her skin, following gravity's call. Blake’s eyes followed as a single bead dropped from the shorter hair framing her face onto her shoulder, following the dip in her collar before it disappeared into the valley between her breasts.

When Blake realized she was all but checking the woman out she tore her eyes away from the exposed curves. Their eyes met once again but the woman seemed more pleased than she had been when Mr. Schnee was caught doing the same. The single thought of being compared to him was enough to threaten bile to rise in Blake’s throat. 

“You want to join us?” She motioned with her elbow to a couple others in the pool, gathered around a small net. Confused at the invitation all Blake could do was stare at her. “We could use a couple other players if you and your…” She paused, eyes sweeping Weiss' small form spread out in the sun, “friend want to join.”

Weiss waved a hand in the negative before folding her arm back under her chin to continue suntanning and the woman’s attention returned to her. She didn’t know what possessed her to nod her head (she could only blame her embarrassment at being caught leering), and was even more confused when she actually set her book down to swing her legs over the side of her lounge to stand. From this proximity Blake could see the other girl had probably four or five inches on her which didn’t fail to catch the other’s attention either. She smirked and stood taller, as if the action would intimidate Blake, she hated to admit it might have worked. It was with that move that Blake saw the competitiveness in her personality. Her friends might play for fun, but this tall blonde played for keeps.

Knowing she couldn’t very well jump in the pool with her shorts and t-shirt Blake quickly grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it from her body in one fluid motion. She shimmied out of her shorts leaving her in only a black bikini of her own. Blake couldn’t have imagined the way the woman’s eyes travel the length of her body, but she did pretend not to notice. She had never been ashamed of her body, but the attention it garnered her sometimes did tend to be troublesome.

“You’re actually going to play?” Weiss spoke and the woman’s eyes darted guiltily away from Blake’s curves.

“Yes, I am.” Blake responded, adjusting the strap on her hip.

“That’s a first.”

“If you’d rather me not…” Blake left the invitation to stop her open as she still didn’t know what was possessing her to accept in the first place, but she knew Weiss too well to think she’d try to stop her.

“No, by all means. It might do you good.”

“What do you mean?” The woman spoke up, addressing Weiss for the first time.

Blake tipped the ball out of the woman’s hands, to draw her attention. “Don’t.” She wasn’t sure which of them she spoke to but both dropped the subject and Blake found herself following a complete stranger into the pool. 

A dark redhead, shorter than the blonde, with a wide cheshire grin rolled her eyes at Blake’s appearance and swung an arm to send a torrent of water into the blonde’s face. “Leave it to you to return with a _beautiful_ straggler, Yang.”

The manager, Yang, returned the splash and laughed. “It was only fair I asked her to join when I got her all wet in the first place.”

The other snorted and their group of friends shared a secretive snicker. Rolling her eyes playfully, Yang slammed the ball into the water with such force a wave rose up to hit nearly everyone in the face, excluding Blake, who was saved by Yang’s body blocking it from reaching her.

Turning back Yang dropped her voice so only she would hear. “Because I don’t trust any of my friends not to badmouth me at the moment, you’ll be on my team.” Blake shrugged, not really caring what team she was on. She was honestly trying to come up with an excuse to revoke her acceptance without seeming rude.

The redhead floated past, circling them until she captured their attention. “You’re being very rude Yang,” she said, but her light grey, almost silver, eyes remained focused on Blake. “You haven’t introduced us to the new girl.”

“Oh!” Yang exclaimed, grabbing her wrist from below the water and pulled her to step forward, next to her. “These are my friends,” she motioned to the gang and listed half a dozen generic names Blake would never be able to remember. “And this,” she pointed to the redhead, weaving her way through the water between them and the group, almost sharklike, “is my little sister, Ruby.” Upon hearing her name the girl popped up out of the water and stood her full height for the first time. She was taller than Blake first thought, shorter than her sister, but perhaps a smidge taller than herself. 

“And…?” Ruby asked, giving a pointed look to her sister.

“And, what?”

“You can’t do introductions one way,” the younger sister admonished. 

“Oh right, sorry. Everyone this is…” Turning, Yang scrutinized her, trying to find the name she’d never been given. It was endearing watching the confident young professional at a loss.

“You don’t know her name do you?” Ruby’s exasperated voice broke the silence, a silence Blake was starting to enjoy. It wasn’t often she got the better of a confident woman like Yang, even if she’d done little to gain the upper hand.

“Miss... Schnee?” Even as she said it, Yang shrank inwardly, knowing she’d grasped at the wrong straw.

“Do I look like a Schnee to you?” Blake surprised herself with such a forward question spoken with such offence, that tone was usually saved for her trusted close friends, not strangers she hardly knew. Ruby and the others laughed at her indignant response, which relaxed her panicked nerves. She actually found the others’ amusement at Yang’s expense rather funny.

“No, you don’t.” Yang had the decency to look contrite. “I suppose we weren’t properly introduced.” 

“Or your thoughts were on something other than her name.” A man she was sure Yang named Alec spoke up. Many snickered as a blush coated Yang’s freckled cheeks, but instead of joining them Ruby gave the others a warning glare. They settled immediately and Blake was glad, she was starting to feel like there was an inside joke happening at her expense, and it unnerved her.

“Your name?” Ruby asked, reaching out a hand which Blake accepted. 

“My name is Blake.”

“Alright,” Ruby spun to the rest. “This is Blake, and with her on our team you’re all going to weep!”

Ruby was quick to tug her to the other side of the net, forcing Blake to dive underwater for a fraction of a second. When she emerged she pushed her wet hair back out of her eyes and shook the droplets from running ticklishly down her cat ears atop her head. She enjoyed swimming, but her feline attributes didn’t share her love of the water. As Yang followed, taking her spot next to Blake at the front of the net, Ruby behind them, she swore she heard Yang repeating her name over and over under her breath.

The game was exactly what Ruby had implied, a complete shutout in their favour. She learned straight away that Yang was not the only sister that was serious about competition. In fact, they both took it to another level entirely. Blake kept up, gaining enough points to be threat enough so the other team was split on which of them to cover, her or Yang, but she wasn’t as in-your-face about her accomplishments as either of the sisters were. 

Surprisingly, Blake found herself enjoying her time, even if she was surrounded by people she barely knew. This wasn’t a position she would normally put herself in, but was glad it had turned out to not be a disaster. She found herself getting swept up into the sisters competitive nature, to the point she reveled in their praise and smack talking of the other team on her behalf (she still wasn’t familiar enough with anyone to go that far) when Blake bested them at the net. It felt nice to be appreciated, even if it was only a silly volleyball game. 

Finding she also enjoyed watching Yang, her athleticism was unmatched by anyone in the pool, including her sister who had the quickest reflexes by far of anyone Blake had ever seen. Where the water slowed Blake’s movements it seemed not to be a problem for Yang. Her muscles rippled as she lifted herself out of the pool with one arm, knocking the ball Blake had hit too far, back over the net for the other team to receive. She moved as if the water didn't exist in her world and was jumping high at the net beside Blake a second later, blocking the ball so it fell with a splash on their opponents side of the net.

“I think that’s game.” Yang looked to Blake, but she knew very little of volleyball rules and she hadn’t been half as worried about keeping score as her two teammates had been.

“It sure is!” Ruby exclaimed, throwing a fist in the air. “You guys buy the drinks tonight!”

“Ruby,” Yang’s voice dropped in a warning. 

“I only have a month left until I’m old enough-”

“And I’ll be the first one to buy you a drink when that time comes.” 

“So do as I say, not as I do?” Ruby raised her hands in defeat at the glare Yang shot her way. “Okay, I’ll drop it. What’s another month anyway.” She ducked under the net to jump into the arms of a girl on the opposing team. “You get to buy me a milkshake.” 

“Your milkshake budget needs to be reassessed,” the girl joked wrapping her arms around Ruby. Let’s go then, before you ruin your supper for later.

“Ruby hasn’t stopped eating since she was three years old,” Yang called after them. “I think her supper is safe.” Blake found herself smiling at everyone’s familiarity. It was nice of Yang to so easily accept her younger sister into her friend group, not many siblings would do the same. “Would you like to join us, Blake?” 

Yang held the net above the waterline so Blake didn’t have to dive under to traverse it. She thanked Yang with a grateful smile, but didn’t know what possessed her hand to act on its own, brushing lightly across the hard muscles of Yang’s abs as she moved past her. She’d sure wondered how they felt while watching her, but she never planned to actually find out. She could feel the heat bloom across her cheeks as Yang sucked in a sharp breath. Yang’s irises darkened and the corner of her mouth lifted into a dangerous cheshire grin.

Yang’s question hung over them, and Blake knew what she wanted; she wanted to say yes. But she’d reacted against her better judgement far too much for one day, she wasn’t used to so much social or physical interaction and no matter the temptation of Yang’s offer, and tempted she was to spend more time with the blonde, she knew the right thing to do was the opposite of what her body was telling her. 

“We have plans with my friend’s family, maybe next time.” Blake pulled away and the water turned frigid away from the heat Yang’s body provided. She forced her legs to continue. Her body felt more weighted and sluggish out of the water than it did slowed by its viscosity but she refused to acknowledge why that would be. 

Weiss was where she’d left her, and it took no more than a tap on her shoulder and a pointed look for her to understand it was time to go. They packed quickly and headed towards their room.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Yang’s amused tone followed her down the immaculately landscaped path to the hotel. She could feel Weiss’ confusion and questioning glare on her the entire way and only when they reached the safety of the enclosed elevator did Blake acknowledge it.

“Later.”

The simple word was enough for her friend of nearly four years to understand she was still processing and would tell her when she’d had time to figure it out herself. It wasn’t news that Blake internalized and overanalyzed everything. 

“Fine,” Weiss huffed, but soon got over her disappointment of being kept in the dark when a new disappointment greeted them as the elevator doors opened and the entire Schnee family was standing there dressed as if on the way to a fancy ball.

“For heaven’s sake, Weiss.” Mr. Schnee growled. “We’re late to dinner, would you and your… _friend_ ,” he sneered, looking at Blake’s wet, messy hair as if she were nothing but a drowned rat floating in his pool, “stop fooling around and go get dressed.” He turned to his wife. “I told you she wasn’t waiting for us downstairs.”

“We were just going to change, the Manager held us up.” Weiss was surprisingly quick to throw out the white lie.

“What did you do now?” His tone was full of resentment and resignation.

“We didn’t do anything, she wanted to make sure we were happy with our stay is all. I thought it would be impolite not to humour her.” Her explanation might not have ignited his anger if her tone wasn’t one full of sarcasm.

“We wouldn’t want to get a name for rudeness, I would have done the same.” Winter spoke up, trying to cool Mr. Schnee’s rising anger before it had time to fester. Though she wasn’t held in as high regard as his mini-me, Witley, Winter had always been able to sway her father’s opinion with reason. It worked far better than Weiss’ approach of frustration and sarcasm.

“Very well, just hurry up, the both of you. The Mallory’s are waiting for us.” And with that he ushered the family obediently into the elevator. Winter gave them a soft smile but the rest seemed to think ignoring the interaction had ever happened was for the best as not even Weiss’ mother would spare them a sympathetic look. 

Blake followed Weiss into their shared room and observed as her friend tore through the closet, flinging a random dress onto the bed. “I don’t have to come, if you think it would placate your father to have me not there to embarrass him.”

“It would insult him if you weren’t there,” Weiss sighed heavily. “The Mallory’s are big supporters of the underclasses and spend great amounts of their fortune donating to causes to help the poor and…” Weiss sat heavily on the mattress as she raked her fingers through her hair to unravel the braid she’d worn to the pool. “It would look good for him to have a faunus sharing his table.”

“Oh,” Blake watched the way Weiss’ eyes dulled as she went through the motions of getting ready. She wished there was more she could do for her friend. Weiss always seemed to be carrying the weight of the world with her, and Blake just wanted to help her carry some of it… or perhaps if the weight was her father she wouldn’t mind helping Weiss toss him off the nearest balcony next time they found the opportunity. She said as much out loud and it garnered her a small smile at least. 

“I’ll shower quick, and I promise to be the model charity case for his little show and tell.” Blake rushed into the shower, washing the pool smell from her hair and skin. She was stepping out of the shower when Weiss knocked on the door. 

“I’ll be out in a moment,” Blake called through the door.

“You don’t have to go along with his stupid plan to show you off.” Her voice came through soft with exhaustion.

“I know, but it would help you make it through the rest of the vacation starting out in his good graces, wouldn’t it?”

The response was a long time coming and she was able to dry her skin and pull her underwear on as she waited. “Yeah, but he’s my burden, not yours,” Weiss’ reply finally came.

Blake opened the bathroom door, haphazardly running a towel through her hair to dry it. Weiss looked just as downtrodden as her voice sounded. “What are friends for, but to share burdens with.” She took a step past Weiss, ”You look amazing by the way. Can you help me with my makeup once I get dressed.” Her offer had the desired effect of perking Weiss' sullen mood.

“Fuck Jacques anyway!” Weiss exclaimed, spirits lifting. “What colour are you wearing so I can match your eyeshadow.” 

“Black?” It was the only colour dress she owned, and since most of the time with the Schnees it was some grand ball or another, black was always a suitable option.

“Again? Would it kill you to wear a little colour?”

“It wouldn’t kill me, but it might scar me for life.” Standing in only her underwear the air conditioning was starting to chill her pretty thoroughly as she rubbed at her arms to gain some warmth.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Sarcasm dripped from Wiess’ words. “I’m serious,” she continued, disappearing into her closet again. “I have the perfect dress for you, I hope it fits.”

“This is the only favour you get to ask of me this entire trip.”

“Deal.” The immediate reply worried her. What had she gotten herself into?

\----------

_What is living, but playing a part; acting, pretending for the benefit of others, but most commonly to protect oneself from others._

She felt overdressed from the moment they stepped into the dining hall. The smooth fabric of her borrowed dress caressed her skin, the finery reminding her of how she did not belong to this world with each step. The purple was more vibrant than she was used to wearing even if it was her favourite colour, combined with the matching bow she’d allowed Weiss to pin her hair back with seemed to draw the eyes of the other diners. Weiss wore one of her light blue dresses that matched the shade of her sharp eyes. Most of the other vacationers wore almost casual attire, why must the elite always try to show off their wealth? Eyes followed her and Weiss, a pair of polar opposites, Weiss the light and her the dark, as they made their way to the Schnee’s table secluded in the far corner. _Imposter, fraud, traitor_ they all screamed. A little girl looked up as they passed, pulling on her mother’s sleeve to point them out. Blake ducked her head, disliking the attention. She wished to turn back so she could hide in their room, but they’d already been spotted by the family. Mr. Schnee nodded his approval for the first time since she’d known him. It was an odd feeling, his endorsement, both an accomplishment and a cause of skin crawling dread knowing she’d acclimated into a world she was so much against. 

The men stood as they approached, even Whitley followed his father’s lead, the picture of a gentile young man. It was all show, for the other man at the table to have risen. Mr. Mallory appeared to be everything My Schnee was not. His smile was genuine and greeting jovial and welcoming. He insisted she sit beside him and she soon found herself returning his grin with one of her own, quickly taking his offered seating arrangement as it would put her as far from Mr. Schnee as the table would allow.

“Jacques here tells us you’ve been accompanying them on their vacation.” She nodded in affirmation. “Good, good. How different you must find these dinners, eh?”

It wasn’t long before she realized just what a picture Jacques actually painted of her; a troubled youth, practically adopted into the family off of the streets. She realized her role was to play the demure, grateful damsel so he could be the generous caregiver. Weiss gripped her hand under the table to calm her. She’d never blame Blake if she chose to leave, this was more of a farce than either of them had imagined, but Weiss did so much for her that a few hours of playing pretend would be the least she could do as repayment. She could do that for a friend, even if it caused her blood to boil uncomfortably beneath her skin.

“Mr. Schnee and the entire family have been so gracious to me.” Blake plastered on a fake smile and spoke in a soft, soothing tone. She’d not even known that voice existed within her throat, but Mr. Mallory smiled while patting her hand in what he must think was a comforting manner.

“Don’t mention it, child. It’s upsetting how your lot has been so disadvantaged.” Mr. Schnee delicately placed a cut of steak on his tongue, chewing with deliberate slowness as he observed her. “You have been no trouble at all, the perfect guest.” He brought his napkin to dab at his moustache. Blake could only assume it was to help force the bile back down his throat at his words of praise towards her. How he must be suffering.

“And such a companion to your daughter no doubt,” Mr. Mallory spoke as he caught sight of the closeness of their chairs and linked hands. “It’s so humbling for our children to have friends outside our privileged society, don’t you think?” 

“I suppose.” He seemed not to know what Mr. Mallory was getting at.

“I just mean, for them to realize how their lives could be very different, under other circumstances is all. It gives them another perspective on all that we provide them.”

“My children are all naturally humbled,” Mr. Schnee’s pride got the better of him, he would allow Blake to give him the charity credit that was not due him but it seemed that’s where the line was drawn; she was not to be given credit for bettering his children, especially when he blamed Blake in part for Weiss’ defiance of him.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to imply a lack of proper parenting,” Mr. Mallory apologized, aghast at the insinuation. “I only meant to say it gives the younger generation a look into a different world, one where you and I had to fight to get to where we are.”

“Yes, I suppose you are right in that.” Mr. Schnee nodded. 

Weiss scoffed before realizing where she was. Blake didn’t blame her and even felt bad as she tried to cover the noise with a fake coughing fit into her napkin. Her father warned her with a look, knowing Weiss was thinking on how he married into the family business and had no part in the struggle of building it at all. The fact that Weiss was always eager to point out that stocks had been on a continual decline since her grandfather handed the company over to him was constantly a point of contention between them.

“Poor dear,” Mrs Mallory’s gentle voice spoke as she handed Weiss a fresh glass of ice water, completely missing the interaction between father and daughter. 

“Thank you,” Weiss croaked out once she’d taken a few sips of the offered drink. “I think I need something stronger to drink to clear the tickle in my throat though.” Sliding her chair back she grabbed Blake’s wrist and pulled her to her feet. “Would you accompany me to the bar?”

“Of course,” Blake responded, dabbing her mouth with her napkin before setting it down beside her plate.

“Weiss,” her mother spoke. “There are waiters for that, sit down and we can call one over.”

“I’d like to stretch my legs anyway,” Weiss smiled sweetly at their guests, “I’ve been lazy today and spent all my time lounging by the pool. I think the long respite has done my health in.”

“My dear, this is what vacations are all about.” Mr Mallory smiled turning to his wife. “Relaxing and getting fat, isn’t that right darling?”

“For us old folks, I agree,” she placated him. “Though I think the younger would find our style of vacationing quite the bore.”

“Right you are.” He stood, gentlemanly as they took their leave; he was the only one. “Go get your bubbly, you should be living it up. I do remember some wild nights of my own in my younger years.” He laughed as his wife shushed him playfully. Blake had the feeling these wild nights were long before she came into the picture and it was clear Mrs. Mallory did not want him rehashing such stories with their current company. 

“How you can play the part so easily when I was raised to, is beyond me.” Weiss spoke when they were out of earshot of the others.

“You’ve been made to play the role far longer than my one night of complacency.” She pointed out, feeling sorry for her friend. If her childhood was full of this overwhelming exhaustion at faking pleasant smiles… she wondered how her friend had even put up with her family this long. Weiss was the stronger one of them, that was for sure.

Blake offered to brave the crowded bar while Weiss hung back to pull herself together before they returned to their dinner. After a full ten minutes she was getting pretty fed up with being ignored by the man behind the bar. Just as he was finally turning to her a hand shot out grabbing his attention and again she was overlooked as he leaned across the space so the girl in dark skinny jeans and a bright orange tank top could whisper her order in his ear. Her eyes rolled at the obvious reason she’d been overlooked once again, but when the man pulled away from the girl he turned to her and smiled. 

“What can I get you?” he called loudly over the noise around them.

“Excuse me?” She didn’t know if it was some joke or not but it looked very much like he was ignoring the other girl’s order, but when he moved closer she spotted Yang’s smiling face staring back at her over his shoulder. Blake quickly gave him their order and he turned to quickly fill them. 

She tapped the credit card Weiss handed her on the counter, trying hard to ignore the blonde still staring at her from across the bar. So intent was she on ignoring that section of the room, she didn’t notice Yang moved to take up the spot beside her until her hand was placed softly at the small of her back and Yang’s lips were hovering behind the shell of her ear.

“You aren’t going to need that, I told him not to charge you tonight.” Yang breathed into her ear.

“I don’t mind, considering it’s Schnee money I’m holding.” She shrugged, leaning further over the bar in an attempt to put distance between her and Yang’s body heat, it was very distracting.

“Huh,” Yang mused, “mind getting a round for me on there too then?”

The edge of the bar was digging painfully into her ribs so she turned, leaning her elbows onto the wooden surface instead, face to face Yang seemed to lose some of her bravado and backed away half a step. “I’m sure with your position you don’t pay a cent for drinks.”

“Well no, but I can’t give free drinks to all my friends, I’d be fired so fast,” she snorted jovially, “but what would a Schnee mind if a few extra drinks appeared on their tab?”

Remembering all the times Weiss’ father looked down his nose at her all because of her lack of position in his coveted society came to mind. The very headache she’d developed upon entering the restaurant was his fault entirely for forcing her and Weiss to play these roles they despised all for his public image. “Sure, why not.” 

Yang seemed to be appraising her in a new light as she raised her hand, four fingers in the air towards the bartender. Blake didn’t bother looking to see if he noticed but Yang must have since her arm dropped to the bar soon after, her thumb ran teasing circles along the skin of Blake’s elbow.

“You sure know how to dress up, I never would have taken you for the cocktails with pompous businessman type of girl the way you spiked that ball this afternoon.” Yang closed the distance between them again, her confidence returning. “You could have broken a precious nail.”

The bartender cleared his throat loudly as he set down the last of their drinks. Yang smiled widely at him, the whites of her canine teeth poking out from beneath her top lip. Something in Blake’s gut dropped at the sight of her, the way she tipped her head back to swallow one of the shots she’d ordered, the muscles of her neck contracting in a pulse that was reciprocated by Blake’s own. She noticed for the first time how dry her mouth became and she licked her lips to rid herself of the feeling. Yang noticed, handing her one of the shots, a dare dancing within her lilac eyes. 

“I thought these were for your friends.” Her voice was quiet, missing the strength of conviction she so often wished for. What she wouldn’t give for a portion of Yang or Weiss’ confidence.

Yang shrugged, grasping gently at Blake’s wrist she helped bring the rim to her lips. It was Yang’s turn to stare as Blake tipped her head back and revelled as the tequila burned a path to her belly. “Join us?” Yang asked for the second time, and once again Blake was forced to disappoint her.

“I can’t, we have that thing.” She nodded to Weiss leaning against the wall by the entrance connecting it to the dining area.

“You don’t want to be in there,” Yang challenged.

“You don’t know what I want,” Blake heard her voice respond, far more confident than she felt. Grabbing her two drinks she brushed past Yang’s shoulder, finally feeling like she could breathe properly again. 

“You look beautiful tonight, by the way.” Yang called after her, she was doing that a lot, calling after her retreating back. Blake wondered how much longer she’d chase. 

Weiss peered curiously over her shoulder before her questioning eyes found hers. Her promise of ‘later’ was very much written across her friend’s pale features. She wondered how much more patient Weiss would be moving forward. “Let’s go.” She handed Weiss her flute of champagne and led the way back into the dining area where they would be being missed by the Mallory’s. She was the guest of honour, after all.

\----------

_The thing about imposters is, you never know which facet of them is the fraud and which the truth. An impossible task if in not knowing yourself you find yourself questioning who you are._

They’d been relaxing in the hotel room, Blake reading and Weiss flipping through a magazine when there was a curt knock on their door. 

“Are you going to get that?” Blake asked, not looking up from her book. The sound of a crisp page flipping from the bed beside her was all she received as a response. “It’s probably your family.”

“Doubtful, they’d not wait this long for an answer without yelling at me.” Weiss flipped another page of her magazine as another soft knock sounded.

Throwing her book to the bed beside her, patience waning well before her friends, she made her way to the door, looking through the peephole to see who was on the other side. A blazer over a white button up shirt greeted her view and when the person on the other side moved a long golden braid swished as she turned.

“Ugh,” she groaned, turning abruptly from the door to drop heavily back onto her bed.

“How much longer are you going to ignore her for?” Weiss asked, finally setting her magazine aside to give Blake her full attention.

“Until she gets the hint and stops.”

“That girl doesn’t seem like the giving up type.” They heard a shuffle on the other side of the door and soft footsteps leading down the hall.

“Really?” She shot Weiss a smug look as she sunk into the pillows behind her, bringing her book to rest once again on her lap.

“If you think not opening a door will dissuade her then by all means live in that fantasy world.” She could feel Weiss’ eyes rolling her direction. “She’s not taken the hint over the past week has she? Whatever you did that first day, you’ve hooked her attention and I doubt it’s going to waver any time soon.”

She chose to ignore Weiss’ words of wisdom. She’d done everything she could the past week to get Yang to stop pursuing her, whatever her intentions were she just wasn’t interested. She didn’t want a relationship, of any kind, and especially not some fling with a girl living thousands of miles away. She’d seen enough broken hearts of friends, Weiss included, to know it was not something she wanted to dabble in. The fact her brain turned to mush whenever the other was around also made her wary of getting any closer. No, she was much safer staying away from Yang. But staying in a hotel the woman managed meant there was nowhere to hide and they still crossed paths at least once a day. Weiss took amusement in watching them dance around each other and it annoyed Blake so thoroughly that they’d had one of their famous arguments resulting in them not speaking for an entire day before Weiss agreed to stay out of it.

She only had one more week to avoid Yang before she’d be on her way back to California, safe from the woman’s irresistible smile and sweet words. 

Weiss stood, taking her makeup bag into the bathroom to freshen up. Their tiny reprieve from the rest of the Schnees would be over soon. At least this outing wouldn’t require them to play any parts, a boating trip away from the resort was just what Blake needed to clear her head of a certain someone.

When they’d both washed up and changed Weiss made a point of going to the lobby early to not give her father a reason to be angry with them, and although Blake was trying to avoid that area of the hotel at all costs she allowed Weiss to convince her of this plan. As they turned to leave, Weiss opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks causing Blake to almost run into her.

“Delivery for Miss Belladonna.” Weiss’ voice rang out as a smirk twitched at the corner of her mouth.

“What are you-” Blake peered over her shorter friend's shoulder to see a bouquet of flowers resting on the floor of the hallway. 

“She’ll get the hint, huh?”

“Shut up,” Blake retorted, elbowing Weiss in the ribs but it only garnered her a laugh as Weiss stepped back so she could get to the flowers so obviously left for her. 

Angered at the way Yang simply would not take no for an answer she picked up the flowers and retreated back into the room. It was sweet how eager Yang was to talk to her or be in her presence she supposed, but she hated that Weiss was being made the third wheel in her courting game. It was more annoying dealing with Weiss’ teasing than it was Yang’s continued pursual of her.

She pocketed the small card with her back to Weiss but made a forceful display of shoving the flowers deeply into the garbage bin beside the desk. Perhaps if she made a strong enough show against Yang’s actions Weiss would learn to drop it, she doubted it though.

Entering the lobby, Blake was happy to find Yang busy with a line of newcomers checking into the hotel. Yang noticed them anyway and lifted a hand to wave at them as they exited the elevator which Weiss politely returned. 

She grabbed Weiss’ wrist and forcefully lowered it, holding it firmly at her hip. “What are you doing?” she hissed.

“I’m waving at the desk clerk,” Weiss explained, wide-eyed and innocent.

“She’s not just the desk clerk and you fucking know it.” Blake released her wrist with a shove.

“Oh? I hadn’t noticed,” She feigned ignorant and looked to the desk as if in a new light. “Is that Yang? You sure are overly aware of her for someone that couldn’t care less about her.” Weiss massaged her reddened wrist. “Your words not mine.”

“You sure are pushing it today.”

“Fine, I’ll drop it.” Blake rolled her eyes, disbelief at her words. “I promise,” Weiss continued, linking her arm with hers to pull her further from Yang’s flickering stare.

To their utter surprise the rest of the Schnee family were running late. “Of course letting us know of a delay isn’t high on his priority list,” Weiss guffawed. “He only expects it if the roles are reversed.”

“He _is_ more important than you,” Blake joked.

Weiss shoved her playfully, a small smile breaking through her previous frown. “Bitch.”

As their serious masks cracked and laughter spilled from both of them, neither noticed someone else joining them. The hairs on the back of Blake’s neck pricked as a familiar voice spoke up. “You two look like you’re enjoying yourselves.” 

It silenced them immediately and Weiss gave her an apologetic look as she stepped away to give them space. She tried to signal her to stay but either Weiss missed the silent signal or she chose to ignore it.

“You going somewhere?” Yang asked, shuffling her feet to lean up against the wall beside her. 

“Yeah, just waiting for the rest of the family.” Blake kept her eyes glued on her friend, who stood a little ways away trying, and failing, to look as if she wasn’t eavesdropping. 

“What’re you all up to?”

“Boating, I think,” she responded. “I’m not really sure. I just show up and let myself be dragged to these things.”

“Wouldn’t you much rather be doing something you want to do?” 

She spared a quick look towards Yang. She was staring off in the opposite direction, watching a group of teenagers sprawled across the front lawn of the hotel, a wistful look in her eye, as if she’d rather be taking her own advice. Of course Blake would rather be doing something she wanted, being dragged around like a petulant child wasn’t really her ideal vacation, but it just wasn’t that easy when it came to Weiss’ family. “Boating sounds alright.”

“With the Schnees?”

“They’re not bad.” Yang’s head whipped sharply in her direction and Blake could feel her dubious look so she conceded. “Well not all of them.”

“Your friend seems to be less…” She left the sentence to hang, obviously not wanting to insult the prestigious family. 

“Egotistical?” Blake supplied.

“Yeah, we’ll go with that,” Yang agreed readily.

“Not the word you were thinking of?” Blake challenged with a lifted brow. 

Yang smiled knowingly but the professional in her chose not to take the bait. “Did you get the flowers?” she asked instead.

She could feel the card pressed firmly to her hip where it rested in her right front pocket, and her fingers twitched in an attempt to reach for it. “Yeah, they were beautiful. Thank you.”

“I was hoping to hand them to you in person, but you must have been out when I came to the room earlier.” 

She could see in her eyes that Yang didn’t believe the words she spoke. She knew very well they were both in that room when she knocked. It wasn’t as if they were being very discrete with their conversation. “Sorry about that.”

“No matter,” Yang waved her apology away. “As long as you got them.” They stood uncomfortably for a few moments. “Did you get the card?”

“We were in a hurry, I hadn’t had time to read it.” At least that wasn’t a lie. 

Her hands shook with anxiety at the situation, where Yang looked completely calm, as if talking or even pursuing her was something she was used to. The realization that maybe she was struck her. Being a manager of a vacation resort must bring many eligible girls into Yang’s world, a revolving door of dating material. How many other guests had she flirted with? How many bouquets were placed outside hotel rooms? How many girls fell for the beautiful manager’s advances? 

There was a pause before Yang spoke again, when she did she pushed off the wall behind her to dust imagined dirt from the back of her skirt. “I’m working the desk tonight, when you get to reading it you can call down with your answer.” 

Even more than before she wanted to pull the card from her pocket to read what was written. What answer was Yang so eagerly waiting for? “You could just ask whatever you wrote now.” She turned to connect their eyes for the first time since Yang approached, hoping to see the answers she sought written there, but finding nothing but disappointment at Yang remaining very much a mystery. 

Yang smiled while shaking her head. “That would ruin the point of the delivery though.” 

“You’re quite the showman then?” she sighed, looking away. She didn’t expect Yang to answer but was surprised when she did.

“Not for everyone, but for you I decided to put a little more effort into my attentions.”

“Lucky me.” The answer to her question did nothing to soothe her nerves. Her hands shook more forcefully at the realization she was just one more in a long line of Yang’s conquests. She grasped her hands together, intertwining her fingers to still them from Yang’s piercing gaze. She might feel like falling apart but she didn’t want Yang to see it happen.

“No, lucky me if you ever accept.” How Yang made her sound so very special would continue to confuse her, but before she could work up the courage to question Yang’s intentions further the door slid open behind them and the rest of the silver headed Schnees emerged. “I’ll let you get to that outing. Have some fun for me!” Yang winked, taking a step back. She turned just as she was entering the hotel. “Remember, I’ll be on desk duty tonight and I’ll be waiting for your call.”

All Blake could do was nod, not wanting to promise anything aloud before she knew what she was agreeing to. She suddenly didn’t want to go on this trip, even though she’d been looking forward to it more than was normal for her but she forced herself to see it as a good thing to be getting away from the hotel. It might even be good for her, hopefully a boating trip would help clear her mind.

\---------

**_‘Life’s too short to be playing it safe, let me show you what living feels like.’_ **

The words were written in a neat scrawl that Blake couldn’t quit looking at. Beautiful as the lettering and words themselves were, she couldn’t figure out what they meant. _‘Let me show you what living feels like.’_ She knew what life was. It was a series of choices one made and the paths those choices led you down could either build the life of your dreams, or they could take you to dead ends full of struggles that could stop you from reaching your potential. That’s what life _was_ , but what was it supposed to feel like?

Blake had spent her life always making the right decisions, planning every choice out carefully, considering all the pros and cons. Even at a young age, when she didn’t know what she wanted to be or to do with her life she knew good grades would help her get wherever that ended up. So she studied, she didn’t party or take chances that might jeopardize her future, and when she decided which university she wanted to attend she took the appropriate steps to get herself there. There wasn’t a single obstacle she’d come across that hard work and determination could not circumvent. 

So why, with all her accomplishments did she always feel something was missing? A confidence she saw in others, even Weiss, who was the most stuck and trapped individual she knew, had that confident quality she craved. She’d watched Weiss defy her father again and again and no matter the punishment, the look of pride Weiss wore in knowing her father could take her belongings and limit her choices, but he could never take away who she was, that look would never disappear.

That was the problem, though. Blake could make all the correct choices, take all the right paths to become who she wanted to be, for her future self, and yet she was still so unaware of who she was in the present. The confidence she envied in the others around her came from them knowing themselves, but Blake always felt as if she were floating, just drifting from one place to another held in place by a flimsy tether that could snap at any moment and the small essence that made her who she was would be lost forever. In all her planning for the future she’d just assumed that part of herself, that confidence would grow with her accomplishments, but with each passing month and year maybe instead of developing it was fading. 

It terrified her to think that she might never be able to step into her skin the way others did, that that feeling of being, of living, might be lost forever if she didn’t do something now.

It was these thoughts swirling through her mind that forced her from bed shortly after Weiss turned off the lights. She’d only waited long enough to hear her friend’s steady breaths before she threw the covers off and quickly left the room. Her heart raced, a tempo much too fast for the elevator music that surrounded her, as it took her to the ground floor. The sharp edges of Yang’s card bit into the skin of her palm. She didn’t need to look at it to see the words painted permanently in her vision. 

The sharp ding of the elevator as the doors opened made her jump and she forced her feet to move, tempted as she was to let the elevator swallow her again. Too easy would it be to run, to go back to the room and wake up back in her normal life, safe from whatever change Yang’s presence promised. She felt this was a turning point, and she’d lived that other life long enough to know it wasn’t the path she wanted to continue down.

Yang emerged from the back office, hearing the elevator. She hesitated seeing Blake standing there, arms wrapped firmly around her middle, wearing only her pyjamas and flip flops.

“Blake,” she snapped out of it to take a step around the desk. “Are you alright?”

The question confused her, off course she was. She wasn’t injured, but as she opened her mouth to voice it the words got caught in her throat and she choked on the syllables. Yang rushed to her side, a look of worry etched in the lines of her face. She looked much older as a fretting caretaker than she did the vibrant flirt Blake knew her best as, and for the first time she wondered what Yang’s story was. What paths led her here?

“I’m fine,” she finally blurted, stepping out of Yang’s light embrace. 

Yang’s arms hovered for a moment before dropping to her side. “Are you sure?”

Taking a deep breath Blake ran a shaky hand through her hair. What was she doing? This wasn’t her, but looking into Yang’s eyes she realized that was entirely the point. “I read the card.” She produced the small rectangle of cardboard that had her in a complete mess all afternoon.

“Oh!” Yang motioned for Blake to take a seat at one of the couches lining the lobby. “I was waiting for your phone call but seeing you in person is a much better surprise.”

Blake allowed herself to be led and felt a little strength return to her once she was seated, at least she didn’t have to worry about her legs giving out now. “Yeah, well I just—” ringing filled the lobby and Yang looked anxiously between her and the desk. “You should go answer that.”

“I could—”

“It’s kind of your job isn’t it?” Blake could tell she was torn at leaving her especially since she’d so obviously been waiting for her to call. “I won’t go anywhere.”

It seemed to placate Yang to hear because she smiled gratefully before rushing to answer the phone. Soon Yang returned, this time with a cup in each hand. She handed one to her and the smell of tea filled her senses, instantly calming her. It halted the shake in her hands but she wrapped both around the mug just in case they decided to start up again.

“Thank you,” she gave Yang a small smile before bringing the mug to her lips. 

“No problem.” Yang took the seat across from her, crossing her legs as she too took a sip from the mug in her hands. They seemed to scrutinize each other over the rims of their mugs for several minutes before Yang spoke up impatiently. “You said you read the card,” —Blake nodded— “does that mean you’re here to give me an answer?”

Blake swallowed past a lump in her throat and Yang’s eyes were drawn to the movement of her index finger tapping the side of the mug in her hands. She wished she could be less jittery, she hated being outside her comfort zone. Too bad that zone seemed to be more of a cage recently. “There really wasn’t a question to be answered.” 

Yang recrossed her legs, settling further into the cushions behind her, a smirk playing at her lips. Blake groaned at the sight, wondering what thoughts were swimming through her mind. “There was no question mark, but ultimately you are the one that needs to agree or not,” she finally responded, leaning forward to set her mug on the small table separating them. “You look like you could use a little fun, and I’d like to be the one to give that to you.”

“What makes you the expert on what I need?” Her grip tightened around the warm ceramic. She’d come down for answers to the questions swimming in her head, they distracted her all afternoon and thwarted her sleep.

“The thing is” —her shoulder lifted in a half shrug— “I’m not, but you wouldn’t be here right now if a part of you didn’t agree with me.” 

She wished to refute Yang’s logic, but she knew she couldn’t. If she truly knew what she wanted, or even needed she wouldn’t be there, she’d be sound asleep in her room, looking forward to—

Look forward to what? A new book? It seemed to be the only thing she knew that she truly did enjoy. Reading was something she’d always gravitated to, and maybe it was less about enjoying how the books relaxed her and more about her being able to live vicariously through their pages. Reading of adventures was safer than living them.

She’d never done anything adventurous in her life, and even when Weiss dragged her halfway around the globe she still ended up reading in the room, making up excuses to get out of outings or events, and staying silent and hiding from everyone around her. What kind of a life was that?

“Look—” Yang’s voice brought her out of the maze her thoughts had become. “—I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. All I’m asking is for one afternoon.” 

Blake took in the woman across from her. On the one hand, she seemed pretty harmless and it wasn’t like she would cause her any physical harm, that much she was pretty sure of. On the other she knew from the few run-ins they’d had that Yang was a risk, a danger of a different sort and that her physical safety might become the least of her problems. But what did she really have to lose? “When?”

“Tomorrow,” Yang easily answered. “I have the day off,” she continued to answer Blake’s unspoken question.

“Alright.”

Yang stood, hopping on the spot as a tiny squeal fell past her lips. She was evidently very excited about the turn of events. Blake just wished she could feel half of her enthusiasm instead of this sinking dread in the pit of her stomach. “I’ll pick you up from your room.”

“No!” Blake shot off the couch so fast half of her tea spilled, landing with a splash onto the table’s glass top. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized, bending to try to soak up the liquid, a few glossy-paged magazines being the only material nearby, all she accomplished was to spread the spill further and ruin a couple of good fashion magazines. 

Yang was quick to grab her hands, taking the half empty mug gently from her grip before she did any more damage. “I’ll get this, don’t worry.”

“It’s all my fault.”

“Seriously, it’ll give me something to do. I get so bored on these night shifts.”

“Would you like some company?” Her jaw dropped, aghast at her easy proposal. Why on earth, with all her clumsiness and awkward behaviours, would those words come out perfectly even and natural?

“Thanks for the offer,” Yang chuckled at her obvious discomfort, “but maybe another night. You’re going to need your rest for tomorrow’s adventure.”

A relieved breath escaped as Yang saved her from herself. “What will we be doing anyway?”

“I can’t tell you that,” —she smiled cheekily as she ushered Blake towards the elevator— “what good is an adventure without a little mystery?” Blake opened her mouth to argue and Yang tutted at her until her jaw snapped shut. “You get to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Meet you down here?” Blake asked, making sure Yang knew a pick up from her room was off the table.

“If you wish.” Yang nodded, pushing her into the open elevator. Blake pressed the button to her floor and Yang waited on the other side, her smile still stretching from ear to ear until the doors closed, separating them once again.

She still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to go out with her, the same person she’d been avoiding all week long. If Weiss heard about this she’d never hear the end of it. It would take some major dodging to get away from Weiss for an entire afternoon, but she’d already made Yang a promise to show up and she wasn’t one to go back on her promises. She glanced one more time at the card still clutched in her hand before she entered her room. 

If what she was doing wasn’t living, then maybe Yang could show her what she was doing wrong.

————— 

_Fear tells you you’re headed in the right direction, for how can anything worth living for not cause some innate response of fear. For fear is a survival mechanism, not something to be followed if one wants to truly live._

It turned out to be quite easy to ditch Weiss the next day. Mr. Schnee had some function planned for the family that afternoon and being as she’d played the perfect guest at their first dinner Weiss’ father was placated easily with Blake declining the invitation. She had a feeling it was half heartedly given in the first place. The real problem was that Weiss was determined to anger her father for some reason. 

“Weren’t you supposed to be downstairs half an hour ago?” Blake asked, glancing anxiously at the clock. 

“An hour ago actually,” she responded with ease, flipping calmly through a magazine. She’d been completely ready for what felt like hours to Blake, complete with dress and makeup perfectly decorating her skin. 

“You decide not to go?” She was supposed to be meeting Yang downstairs now, thinking that would be plenty of time for her to get ready after Weiss left. Too bad Weiss had other plans, as soon as she’d put the finishing touches she’d sat on her bed and picked up that magazine. Blake was sure she was determined to read every word of it before leaving, complete with product disclaimers for the speed with which she read.

“No way!” Weiss exclaimed. “He would like that. The only thing Father hates more than a no show is a late entry.” She chuckled, laying the magazine across her lap. “But I do suppose I should go before he sends someone to fetch me.” She stood, picking up her pearl coloured clutch, completing her ensemble. The snow white dress she wore fit her slim figure snuggly and Blake knew it was also worn to irritate the senior Schnee, who hated anything form fitting on the women of the family.

“What will you be doing all day?” Weiss asked, pausing halfway through the door as if the thought just occurred to her Blake was not accompanying her. 

“Might go for a walk around the resort but I’ll probably stick to the room mostly,” she feigned exhaustion by slumping further in the bed with a heavy sigh. “You know how your family tires me out.”

“Okay, get some rest. I don’t want to be out late, but that’s not really up to me.”

“Don’t worry.” Blake relaxed fully into the mattress, spreading her arms out at her sides. “I’ll just be basking in these amazing sheets while you schmooze potential suitors under your father’s watchful eye.” A brush landed on her gut, surprising her enough to have her sit up. Weiss’ scowl was quick to greet her. “Sorry,” Blake apologized, arms raised to stop further onslaughts that didn’t come.

“See you later,” was all Weiss said before she closed the door behind her. 

Blake waited a full minute just to make sure Weiss wasn’t going to return for something she’d forgotten before she sprang up from the bed and ran to the bathroom. It was far too late for her to have the shower she’d planned so she had to settle for running a brush quickly through her hair. The persistent frizz that seemed to accompany her in the humidity of the island annoyed her with her hair down so she quickly twisted it up into a halfhearted bun at the back of her head. Wetting the flyaways and spraying her hair quickly with a mist of Weiss’ hairspray completed the look. 

Not sure what Yang’s surprise adventure would entail she threw off her clothes and put on her bikini before pulling on one of her favourite tshirts. For the tenth time she cursed Yang for not giving her any clues because it caused her to scrutinize whether to wear jeans or shorts for five minutes she did not have to spare before disregarding both in favour of a pair of tan coloured capris pants. Shoving her feet into her black Vans, she then grabbed her purse and rushed out of the room, almost forgetting to grab her key card off the table before she did.

Blake entered the lobby short of breath and rushed from the elevator, scanning the area frantically for the familiar blonde braid she’d become accustomed to. Yang spotted her first, however, coming up beside her as she stepped into the middle of the open lobby space. She jumped when Yang’s arm snaked firmly around her waist. 

“Jumpy?” Yang’s light chuckle tickled the loose hair behind her ear. 

“Sorry I’m late!” Blake all but shouted in her nervousness, ducking her head when a few resort guests turned to look her way. “Sorry,” she repeated, this time in her usual quiet tone.

“It’s okay,” Yang’s thumb rubbed reassuringly at her hip and the action worked surprisingly well. “At least you showed.”

With brow furrowed, “did you think I would not?” 

Yang shrugged, guiding her to the exit. “I wasn’t sure, but I’m glad you did.” When they stepped through the sliding doors and out into the less crowded front courtyard Yang pulled away. Blake missed her warmth in a way that was completely foreign to her. Lilac eyes swept down her body and Blake felt exposed somehow. “You look beautiful.” 

“Oh!” She could feel the heat in her cheeks, a compliment was not something she was expecting, especially with how rushed she was getting ready. “You…” her eyes mimicked Yang’s earlier appraisal and Blake realized for the first time that Yang’s hair was free from her professional braid to wildly curl around her shoulders. It suited her in another way, like she had two personalities and this one wild and untameable. A quirk of Yang’s thin brow pulled her from her scrutiny and she realized she hadn’t finished returning the compliment. “You look good too.”

“Just good?” Yang pouted.

“Oh no, I mean yes. I mean you look very—” 

Yang’s laughter cut her off. “I was joking,” she snorted, “lighten up.”

She took a moment to steady her still frantic breaths before turning to Yang as her laughter quieted. “I think I’m just a little frazzled because of how rushed I was. Sorry.”

“I have the entire day off, you didn’t need to rush.”

“I didn’t want to be rude by being late for our date.”

Yang’s smile grew as something unspoken sparked in her eyes. “You were late anyway though, so does that mean you owe me something for being rude?”

The still present smirk on Yang’s lips told her that she was being playful. She was baiting her, and Blake wondered how far Yang would lead her to the edge before she inevitably agreed to jump for her. “I wouldn’t want to be rude.”

“No, that you wouldn’t.” 

A black sedan pulled up and Yang stepped from her side to open the rear door. The interior contrasted with the shining gloss paint of its exterior which shone brightly in the sun’s rays. A heavy murkiness reached for her from within its depth, threatening to pull her forward. Her instincts told her to run, to turn around and go back to the safety of her hotel room where she knew her trusted book still lay open on the mattress where she'd tossed it. But when she tore her eyes away they caught sight of Yang, smiling at her, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited patiently for her to step forward. Was she nervous? Was that what her fidgeting feet were about? 

The knowledge had her looking at Yang in a new light. She’d been the one pursued and Yang the pursuer. Somewhere in the back of her mind thoughts whispered about predators and prey but the sweet smile Yang still wore could never be called anything predatory. Glancing to the car previous slithering tendrils now curled in a welcome ‘come-hither’ motion. 

With a quick pinch to her thigh her body melted in its rigidity allowing her feet to carry her the three steps needed for her to slip into the comfortably cool interior of the sedan. She gave Yang an encouraging smile as the door was closed. With tinted windows hiding her she took the time to smooth down her hair and take a steadying breath. 

Yang wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.

—————————————— 

“Just jump!” Yang’s voice echoed, taunting her again and again as it bounced off the rock faces surrounding them. 

She’d never been afraid of heights, but she was quickly developing a major case of vertigo as she shuffled her bare feet, toes curling over the edge of stone below. The second call from Yang’s lips was drowned out by the roar of water crashing to the pool fifty feet beneath her. Moisture slicked rocks protruding from the cliffside penetrated the steady stream falling from the river above. A wave of dizziness clouded her vision and she swayed, leaning into the hard stone at her side she used its strength for support. How she ever let herself get talked into this was beyond her; where had her sensibility gone? 

“If you’re scared...” Yang’s voice trailed off, accusing but with a hint of her usual teasing within its tone. It cut through the fog, allowing her to straighten enough to peer over the cliff. Yang was at the base of the waterfall looking up to the outcropping where she’d climbed. With one hand resting on her hip and her trademark smile ever present upon her lips she waved innocently up at her. 

“I am not afraid.” Blake found the strength to sound as if she believed the words.

“Looks like you’re just a big scaredy cat to me.” A cheshire grin spread across Yang’s lips, pearly teeth shining in the light still high enough in the sky to peek over the cliffs at Blake’s back. Their mocking gleam just as bad as the frollicking light bouncing off the rippling waves in the pool below.

Fury at Yang’s pun made at the expense of her feline attributes now pinned against her scalp— not helping to prove Yang’s words wrong— strengthened her resolve. Knowing she would end up leaning against the cliffs again if she over thought it she stepped to the edge, ignoring the thundering power of the waterfall at her side and the mist that instantly coated her bare skin causing a shiver to travel up her spine. With bent knees she pushed off the cliffside. For a terrifying moment she was weightless, suspended looking down on Yang’s surprised face. It was at that moment she knew... Yang had never intended her to actually jump. 

The pleasure that gave her was fleeting, only lasting until gravity pulled at her and her stomach flew into her throat. A scream was ripped from her as butterflies in her belly fluttered in what she could only describe as an attempt to keep her aloft. She plummeted, and for the first time she wasn’t scared of the fall, but of the depth of the pool rushing up to meet her. All she could do was force enough oxygen into her lungs and brace herself, and pray the pool was deep enough to engulf her safely.

The shock of the cold water forced the air from her lungs and when her body slowed its descent she took a quick stock of any injuries but only found the discomfort of a racing heart and the burning in her lungs. Breaking the surface for the second time she gasped lungfuls of air. Yang was ready to help her, arm outstretched, as she waded closer to the pool’s rocky shore. Letting Yang’s strength pull her to stand on shaky legs, she began to shiver even in the warmth of the midafternoon heat. A soft towel was wrapped around her and Yang’s frantic hands rubbed at her arms, to warm or console her she did not know.

“I cannot believe you did it.” Yang gaped, jaw hanging in awe.

“Y-you’re the one that t-told me to.” Blake bit her lip to stop it from quivering. 

Yang giggled. “Yes, but I didn’t think you actually would.” Blake narrowed her eyes, hoping to come off menacing, but the adoring look Yang gave her told her she appeared more pathetic than anything.

“Are you cold?” Yang held both her shaking hands sandwiched between her own.

Blake nodded, better to let Yang believe that than to admit her unease was due to residual fear. She was led from the water and down a path through the trees, Yang carrying a pack over one shoulder and Blake’s things tucked under one arm. They emerged on the far side of the pool, with an amazing view of the waterfall, its roar now dulled to a content rumble.

“Here should be good.” Yang spoke up, more to herself than looking for a response. She set Blake’s things down and pulled a blanket from her pack to spread out over the space. Blake watched in silence and sat when Yang motioned for her to do so.

“You brought a picnic?” Blake questioned, eyeing the rest of the bag’s contents being emptied.

“Did you already eat?” Yang’s hands paused, and for the second time Blake saw the other’s insecurity. 

“If I had it would’ve all come up back at the cliffs.” She was serious but Yang’s laughter rang at the assumed joke. 

Finally Yang settled beside her, handing her an open container filled with an assortment of sandwiches. She grabbed a tuna salad one and tried to distract herself from the craziness of what she’d just done. Yang mimicked her with a bite of her own sandwich and they fell into a semi-comfortable silence as they ate.

“You like tuna, eh?” Yang commented as she was reaching for her third one.

Her hand paused halfway to her open mouth. “I-” Embarrassed at Yang realizing she was a walking feline stereotype, her ears pinned flat to her scalp, twitching against the cold dampness of her hair.

“I didn’t mean anything by it.” Yang shrugged, seemingly catching on to her discomfort. “Have as many as you’d like; I prefer chicken myself.”

Blake wasn’t sure if Yang was covering for her harmless jab or if she really thought Blake was bothered by thinking she was eating all Yang’s favourite sandwiches. Either way, Blake took her offered out and relaxed once again, taking a small bite.

“You bring all the girls here?”

“What do you mean ‘all the girls’?” Yang’s hand and sandwich fell to her lap.

“I just figured this might be your way of weeding out the unworthy.” She tipped her chin to the waterfall.

Yang tilted her head in thought as she followed Blake’s eye. Her eyes narrowed as she took another bite of her sandwich. She chewed slowly as if contemplating something before she answered. “And what is it you’re hoping to be worthy of?”

Blake was not prepared for a question to be thrown back at her and she stuttered trying to find the right words only to fail as her mouth grew dry. She didn’t know what Yang wanted to hear and, if she was honest, she also didn’t know what she was trying to prove nor why. Instead, she picked up the bottle of water Yang had set beside her and took a healthy swig.

“You didn’t have to jump. I’m sorry if I pressured you into thinking you did.” Yang changed the subject after a silent moment.

“I know, though…” 

_‘Let me show you what living feels like.’_ Yang’s written words swam in her vision, shining just as the taunting ripples had not long ago. Her heart still raced from its touch with death, or what felt like death. She wasn’t built for daring and danger, but the itch living just below her skin told her she wasn’t built for comfort and complacency either.

“Yes?” Yang asked as Blake’s train of thought wandered.

“I felt as if I needed to prove I could,” Blake sighed, “I suppose.”

“You don’t have to prove anything to me.” She tossed her nibbled on chicken sandwich back into the container.

“It wasn’t—” She popped the last bite of tuna into her mouth and chewed slowly. “—I was more proving it to myself.” Yang shot her a dubious glare which made Blake roll her eyes. “Okay, maybe I jumped to shut you up a little bit, but mostly I wanted to show myself I could.”

Yang hummed, deep in her throat as she laid to rest, staring up at the passing clouds above them. “It’s good to challenge yourself sometimes.”

“Sounds like you have experience in that?”

“A little.” Yang picked a blade of grass and brought it into her line of vision to twirl between her thumb and forefinger. The corner of her mouth twitched every time the blade got close enough to tickle her nose. “If you don’t take chances or jump outside your comfort zone— literally in your case,” —Blake snorted at Yang’s cheeky grin— “then life just becomes stagnant, don’t you think?”

“So you cliff dive to stop your life from becoming stagnant?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve never jumped.”

“What?!” The decibel of her voice hurt her own ears and she saw Yang’s shoulders tense at the sound. “You had me jump when you’ve never done it?”

“Like I said,” Yang flicked the blade of grass in her direction; it landed harmlessly halfway between them. “I didn’t think you’d jump.”

“Yeah, but—” 

“I’ve seen others though, so I knew it was safe-ish if you happened to be crazy enough to do it.”

“Safe-ish? I can’t believe you.” Blake made to stand but Yang’s firm grasp on her wrist stopped her. The look she gave her was accusing, but lilac eyes also pleaded with her to stay. Blake allowed her body to settle once more on the blanket beneath her. She averted her gaze to the waterfall, still put out, but she had to admit it wasn’t Yang’s fault. She didn’t push her over the ledge, nor did she ever say she’d done it, Blake had just assumed. “So, then what do you do, if not cliff diving?”

“I’m social,” Yang’s shoulder lifted in a shrug, “a little too social sometimes. I mean, I dragged you into a volleyball game and didn’t even know your name.”

“Somehow I don’t think being social counts as a challenge for you.” It was something that seemed to come natural for Yang. It wasn’t anything that would compare with the fear and struggle Blake had— not just with stepping off the cliff, but also with doing most things outside what she’d become familiar with. 

“No, I guess not.” Yang admitted. 

“So, what have you done to challenge yourself?”

Yang popped a grape into her mouth, studying Blake from the corner of her eye. Her bubbly facade evaporated, taken away with the same breeze that wicked the moisture from Blake’s skin. “The scariest thing I’ve ever done was to pack up and leave home when I was sixteen.”

“Why did you leave?”

Yang shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I ended up here, started as a housekeeper and worked my way up to waitress and bartender to customer service and finally manager. It wasn’t easy, but look at me now.” 

“I suppose being social comes in handy in your line of work?”

“It can, but the paperwork and reprimanding staff etcetera isn’t really my cup of tea. Though, I’d rather be running the place than working with someone breathing down my neck.”

“You don’t like being told what to do.” It was a statement, not a question. Blake could see that in her personality, how she guided others into seeing things her way. It had worked on Mr. Schnee that first day and it had worked on her last night.

“I don’t like to give others a say in how I should live my life.” Yang corrected. 

“You and Weiss have that in common.” Blake smiled, finally relaxing at finding a commonality between her trusted friend and the most terrifying girl she’d ever met. 

“Oh dear God no. I don’t want to have anything in common with a Schnee.” Yang whined, throwing an arm over her forehead.

“Weiss isn’t bad,” Blake defended, throwing a grape at Yang, finally feeling like herself in Yang’s presence. The fruit bounced off her arm and came to rest in the hollow of her throat. Surprised at Blake’s sudden playfulness Yang turned towards her to rest her head in her open palm. She grabbed at the grape that rolled onto the blanket and popped it into her mouth. Blake returned her smile this time. “She’s not like the rest of her family.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” 

Not wanting the silence to take over, or Weiss to become the center of their conversation, Blake grasped at another topic. “So, this sociable nature of yours… It must make you pretty popular.”

“I suppose I have a decent number of fre—” Blake chewed anxiously on her bottom lip which Yang was quick to take note of. “You weren’t talking about friends.” When Blake looked away, not able to hold Yang’s stare it gave the other all the answer she needed. “And why would you be interested in my romantic relationships?” 

“I just wonder how many other unsocial girls you’ve seen as challenges to bring out of their shells.” Blake tried to keep her voice even, aloof.

“You think this is a game for me?”

“Is it not?” 

Yang busied herself with tracing the pattern of the blanket between them, but could only ignore the question for so long. “In a way, I think it started that way. With you I mean!” Her voice rushed with worry. “I don’t go out of my way to shove others out of their comfort zones, I wanted to see if you would, more so than if I could get you to.”

“And there aren’t any notches on your bedpost that I’m going to be added to?” Before she could trust Yang in the way she needed to fully explore what this adventure had in store for her she needed to know what she was to Yang.

“No, nothing like that. I mean I do have my fair share of notches, I run a vacation resort in a tropical location.” Yang’s voice turned hard, as if her love life was something that had caused her pain in the past. “I’m not about to lie about it. I’ve definitely had my share of fun.”

“Then what are you trying to achieve with me?” She chose to ignore Yang’s comment on past conquests.

“I honestly don’t know.” Yang sat up, grabbing one of Blake’s hands. She rubbed lazy circles into the lines of her upturned palm. When she spoke next her tone was soft, almost fragile. “I just want to get to know you better. Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” but upon seeing how Yang’s features lit up with her agreement, “though I should warn you, I’m not looking for anything romantic. But we can be friends.”

“Friends?” Yang’s brow furrowed, seemingly not quite able to wrap her mind around Blake’s counter proposal.

“Have a problem with that? We don’t have to—”

“No! That’s great. Perfect actually.” The beaming smile Yang gave her didn’t quite reach her eyes, but there was resolve written in their depths.

“So, just friends?” Blake reiterated.

“Just friends.” Yang nodded. “So as my friend, would you mind doing me a favour?”

“What would that be?” Blake was determined to keep things friendly between them, but that didn’t mean she wanted to suddenly find herself being Yang’s wingwoman with some other girl. She wasn’t ready for a relationship, of any kind, but she wouldn’t lie to herself; she enjoyed the attention to a degree.

“Jump off the cliff once more.” Yang giggled as Blake ripped off the towel still resting on her shoulders to throw at her. “I really need to capture that look you had when you realized what you’d done.” 

“Ugh, you are the worst.” Blake growled, but the snort that escaped between Yang’s breaths of laughter pulled a smile from her, even in her irritation.

“It was _priceless_.”

“I’m starting to realize why the resort life is fitting for your life,” Blake shot back, grabbing the towel she’d thrown to place once again around her shoulders, the breeze much cooler with the waning light than it had been previous. “Who in their right mind would put up with you for more than a couple weeks.”

Yang bellowed louder at her sass, but when a violent shiver wracked Blake’s entire body Yang quickly sobered. “Let’s get you back so you can warm up.” Blake agreed and slipped her clothes back over her damp bikini while Yang packed up their picnic. This time as Yang led her from the waterfall her hand remained warm entwined securely with Yang’s.

And as they parted ways at the resort not long after Blake found herself agreeing to another outing the next day. She’d either have to find another way of ditching Weiss or would have to drag her along, because whatever this was that was starting with Yang she felt was too important to dismiss. There was a pull she just could not describe nor did she really quite understand, but something told her Yang was important, and that she should not ignore whatever this was.

—————————— 

_Just as serendipitous meetings occur with soulmates, so too can crossroads of timelines meet at wrong moments. Not all meeting of soulmates end happily ever after._

Her heart raced as she tiptoed to the end of the hall to peer carefully around the corner. It wouldn’t do to get caught when she was so close to getting out undetected. Her sharp ears pricked at the top of her head, telling her what her eyes could not, the next hall was also clear. Relief washed over her as she stepped around the corner, gliding along the wall silently. Just two more corners then she would be safe.

“Run!” Yang burst from around the corner she so carefully and silently made it around, rushing past her at full speed. She was screeching so loudly as she used a hand to whip her around the next corner that had she not known it was already clear Blake was sure they’d have been caught. Her choices were to remain where she was, where Yang’s voice still echoed off the walls, or to catch up to her before someone came to check out the noise.

“I can’t believe you!” Blake reprimanded as she entered Yang’s office. 

Yang beamed at her from behind her desk, the fruits of their labour spread out, covering the paperwork Yang was supposed to be working on. “I told you we wouldn’t get caught.” Yang waved away her worry.

“Yeah,” Blake scoffed, “no thanks to you.”

“What’s life without a little risk?”

Blake rolled her eyes, knowing full well by now what Yang’s idea of life was. She crossed the room and picked up a small plate with a slice of cherry pie balancing perfectly at its center.

“Hey!” Yang pouted. “I was going to eat that.”

“Then go back and get another one.”

“Are you crazy?” Yang exclaimed. “With all the noise we made escaping, I’d be caught for sure.”

“We?” A noise of disbelief escaped Blake’s throat. “You should have been quieter, but I’m not giving you this pie.”

“Just a small bite?” Yang’s plump protruding bottom lip was both adorable and pathetic in its delivery.

Blake took a large bite, taunting Yang in its ridiculous size. “Mmm,” she moaned.

“You’re a horrible person.”

“You were the one who wanted to hang out with me more.” She said around the mouthful of cherries threatening to choke her.

“Get to know you better, I believe is what I said.”

“How’s that going for you?” Blake finally forced the pie down her throat. 

“I’ll be picking my next companion with a little more care next week.”

“I’m hurt.” Blake pouted, mimicking Yang. But Blake knew Yang was too stubborn to back down. It was one of the things she’d come to admire in her over the past few days of them hanging out. No wonder she’d risen so fast within the business, sheer stubborn tenacity. 

Taking a look at the remaining sliver of pie left on her plate she didn’t have the appetite for the rest, having nearly inhaled half of it in one bite. She tossed the plate on the desk below Yang’s nose. Her cheer of success was cut short as she stuffed the rest of the pie in her mouth in one go. She had a harder time than Blake and choked on the crust as she tried to swallow but as she washed it down with a glass of water she shot Blake a mocking smile.

“I knew you couldn’t resist this face.”

“Yeah,” Blake chuckled, “the crumbs coating your cheek add to that sexy businesswoman thing you got going on.”

Yang wiped at her face and brushed the crumps from her lap into the wastebasket beneath her desk. The blush coating her cheeks was adorable though, Blake did have to admit that. Shyness wasn’t something Yang showed often, and she only dropped her confidence when they were alone. It made Blake feel special, as if she was allowed to see a side of Yang no one else was permitted.

“Try this,” Yang held out another dessert, “it’s to die for.”

“I don’t endanger my life for food.”

“No, you just jump off cliffs to impress pretty girls.” Yang snorted as Blake aggressively grabbed the plate from her hand and dropped to the chair across from Yang.

“I didn’t do it for you.”

“So you admit you find me pretty?”

“I—” Blake’s fork paused halfway to her mouth. “Shut up,” she grumbled, shoving a forkful of the raspberry dessert into her mouth. She did have to admit Yang was right, it was pretty delicious.

Giving her a knowing smile, Yang reached into the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a bottle of merlot and a couple glasses. She poured them each a glass and handed Blake’s to her. “I heard Merlot is a good dessert wine,” she spoke, swishing the liquid in her glass before taking a small taste. “But, I’ve never really been a big wine drinker myself. This isn’t so bad though,” she finished with another, larger mouthful.

As the night wore on, their bottle of wine was replaced with one of rum. It was a drink Blake instantly recognized as one of Yang’s favourites. They’d spent evenings drinking, but where she’d previously had Weiss to keep her in check, here she only had a tipsy Yang refilling her glass before it even became half emptied. It was impossible to keep track of the amount of alcohol she’d consumed, and Yang was no better off as she slumped further in her chair as the night wore on.

“Do you remember that guy that was trying to hit on Weiss at that bar?” Yang half slurred through a premature giggle at the memory. Blake joined her, leaning onto the desk, emptied of their previous kitchen raid treasures.

“Poor guy, I doubt he’ll get over that anytime soon.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes celibate.” Yang quieted her laughter and sighed, tipping her head back to empty her glass. “She might be a Schnee, but that friend of yours sure knows how to put on a show.”

“Weiss is a strong character, I’ll give her that.” Blake agreed, taking a drink of her own.

“Hand me your glass,” Yang halfheartedly reached for it across the desk. 

“No,” Blake pulled it closer, “it’s still three quarter’s full.”

“That means it’s a quarter empty.” Yang tried again, but the desk was far too wide for her to reach while sitting so she got up, stepping around the edge as Blake picked the glass up to keep it out of her reach. “Give it here.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” Blake admonished while pressing further back into her chair trying to escape Yang's longer reach. She realized too late her error. She yelped as a split second of weightlessness took over and she would have ended up on the floor if it weren't for Yang's reflexes saving her. With a quick tug on the arm of the chair Yang had all legs firmly back on the ground and Blake pressed a hand to ease her racing heart. 

“I think it’s a little late for that, don’t you?” Yang mused, turning Blake's chair so she could place hands on both arms, effectively trapping her. Yang leaned closer and Blake's eyes fluttered shut as soft lips ghosted along her jawline to whisper sultry in her ear. "Now, give me your glass or pay the consequences."

The struggle she went through in wanting desperately to know what the consequence would be told Blake she was in fact quite tipsy. This wasn't supposed to be anything more than a friendship. 

“Fine, on one condition,” she stuttered, her own voice lowering to match Yang's. “You answer a question of mine, honestly.”

“Deal, now give it here.” Yang grabbed for her glass and this time she gave it up, surprised none of the liquid was spilled on her in the process.

“Why did you really leave home?”

The change in Yang's attitude was palpable. The corners of her mouth reversed from the constant smile as her lips pursed and the lines deepened between her brow with her scowl. “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

This time when Yang took her spot behind her desk it felt like more of a barrier than before. Blake knew this was a touchy subject, had known it since the day at the waterfall, and she'd done a pretty good job of skirting Yang's family history up until now. “Come on, please.” She blamed the alcohol for making her brave. She was never one to intentionally pry.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I want to get to know you better.” She threw Yang's word back at her and the derisive snort that traveled across the wide expanse separating them told Blake that the meaning was not missed on Yang's end.

“I don’t see the point, you’re leaving tomorrow.” Yang sighed, taking large swigs from her glass that Blake was sure by now was more rum than Coke. The furrow of Yang's brow and breath hissed through clenched teeth only proved her right as Yang placed her empty glass on the wood between them. The ice clinked as Yang spun it between her fingers, a distraction from the question Blake still waited an answer for.

Blake was on the verge of reneging the question with how upset it made Yang; she didn't want their last night to be one of negativity or regret after all. But it was the same reason she wanted to know, it was her last night, her last chance. “I’ve had fun, this past week I’ve done things I never thought I’d be able to do.” An amused sound forced its way past her throat remembering all the things she'd done; the cliff diving and clubs and outings with strangers she'd never have previously trusted enough to open up to, let alone do things that terrified her. "And I owe those experiences to you. I just want to know what makes you… well you.”

“I make me who I am, no one else.”

Blake took a moment to mull over Yang's sharp words, whether she should again drop the subject or push Yang to open up as she'd pushed her to let go. With a deep breath she willed her nerves steady and when that failed she downed half the drink still left in her glass. "Two weeks ago I probably would have agreed with you, but you and I both know that's a lie." Yang's eyes lifted from the spinning glass and the sharpness once in them dulled at her words. "People and events help shape us. We decide how we respond, but…" She pushed her glass to slide across the glossy wood. It came to rest by Yang's elbow and she took the hint and refilled both their glasses. "But I guess I learned otherwise when I met you. I'm not entirely the same person I was when I arrived, and that's in large part thanks to you." Blake reached for her refilled glass wrapping her hand to cover Yang's before she had a chance to pull away. "You are who you are in part because of your parents and your past."

"If that were true I'd be an uncaring bitch like my mother,” Yang wrenched her hand back, placing them both protectively under the table away from Blake’s reach. “Is that how you see me?"

“I didn’t mean... “ pulling back Blake sunk into her chair, her voice quiet and less sure now. “Your sister is nice.”

“Yeah…” Yang scoffed, glass halfway to her lips. “She was lucky." Blake gave her a questioning look, wanting her to continue but no longer trusting her voice to question Yang on something she was so obviously hurt Yang angry about still. “She got the perfect family." 

The smile that accompanied her words was sinister, not something Blake had ever seen or would have ever thought she'd see on Yang's features. “I don’t understand, you grew up together didn’t you? How-” 

“Different mothers," Yang cut her off before she could voice the question Yang must have answered a hundred times in the past. "Where her mother was mine, in a sense, I also had Raven.” 

“Your parents divorced?” 

It made sense, now that Yang mentioned it. Blake knew not all siblings had the similarities of the Schnees, but Yang and Ruby seemed the exact opposite in many ways. One dark and the other light, one innocent and the other seeming to lack anything resembling the word.

“They were never married. I was a mistake, which I came to understand at a young age." Yang seemed to have broken through the locked door where she kept this information safe, because she supplied the rest without prompting. "Raven resented Summer for being the mother she could never be and…” She laughed, but this one sent a chill down Blake's spine. “Let’s just say, expectations were high for me to be more like her than Summer.”

Blake swallowed past the lump in her throat telling her to remain silent. “That must've been hard.”

“It wasn’t bad. It made me stronger, and it made me realize I didn’t want to be like any of them.”

“Summer or Raven?”

“Or Ruby or Tai. I can’t be what they want me to be. I can’t be Ruby,” Yang clarified. There was a hint of anguish in her tone and Blake wondered how many years she'd tried and failed to be what others wanted her to be. How many years had she pretended to be the innocent bubbly girl her parents preferred her to be, or the hardened polar opposite Raven must have pushed her to become?

“Can’t? Yang…”

“I don’t want to be.” Yang answered, knowing what she would say. She was done living for what others wanted her to. The past week was evidence enough of that for Blake. Yang was a free spirit, wild in her own way, but Blake had seen her shyness, the times she still questioned herself. It hurt her to think of how broken Yang must have once been. It only made her admire the woman Yang had become even more.

“So you came here.”

“Now I live under my own expectations. I love Ruby and Tai and Summer, I even have some love for my mother, but life wasn’t easy. And when I left, I promised to never be someone else’s mistake ever again."

The serious turn of their conversation washed away their carefree joy from earlier and Blake was in some respects sorry to have caused it, but another part of her was glad she’d pushed Yang for answers. She liked knowing Yang better and though Blake had been able to relax in her presence before, now Yang seemed much more human to her than ever before. They weren’t so different; both were just trying to find themselves in the messiness the world had made them. Yang just seemed a lot more further along than her is all.

“Mistakes, huh? What about your conquests?” Blake smirked over the rim of her glass happy to see Yang return it with a familiar one of her own. 

“I wouldn’t count those as mistakes.” Yang sighed, and with the removal of air in her lungs, the sour mood seemed to dissipate as well.

“No? So no broken hearts to regret?”

Yang’s glare bore into Blake’s own for a moment too long before she answered. “Not yet, no.” Leaning back, Yang brought her feet to prop up on the corner of her desk, crossed at her ankles. “More mutual agreements than anything, they’re to me exactly what I am to them.”

“And what is that?” Blake asked curiously.

“Distractions from real life.” Yang shrugged. “People go on vacations to get away and forget their responsibilities back home, flings are the same.”

“And you’re okay with that then?” She couldn't fathom the deal would ever appeal to her, she was far too closed off for anything temporary.

“If I wasn’t I wouldn’t take part,” Yang breathed through a chuckle. “I don’t force the women I’m with and I wouldn’t pursue if I didn’t know how it ended. I have a lot of responsibilities and unwinding every now and then is good for me.”

“Hmm,” Blake hummed, contemplating her words.

“You don’t approve?” Yang teased with a cluck of her tongue.

“I just don’t think that life is for me is all. Not that I’m judging you for it, I can see the appeal for someone in your position.”

“Well that’s a relief.” 

“What is?” Blake’s head dipped as she studied Yang.

“That you were just against the idea of a fling more so than the idea of a fling with me I suppose.”

“Oh!” Blake exclaimed with surprise. “I’m sure if I was less withdrawn you would be the exact type to intrigue me in that way.” The heat that raced to her face was almost painful, especially with the curious look Yang gave her at her words.

“Is that so?” Yang asked, abandoning her glass as she stood and stalked her way around the desk, for that was the only way to describe how Yang now approached her. 

Blake wondered if in another time, with another her, would there have been something more between the two of them? Blake swiveled in her chair to follow Yang’s movement as she made her way around Blake’s chair, but Yang put a stop to her movement with a tight grip on the back of her chair. She could have easily gotten away, stood up, laughed or even played it off as a game and quickly abandoned her chair to steal Yang’s own, but she didn’t. She let Yang step behind her, let her hands and nimble fingers trace patterns down the bare skin of her arms, not even stopping her from removing the drink from her hands. Lost without the cold glass anchoring them they began to shake. She let herself be caught, if only to give credit to her own assumptions that in another time and place… maybe.

And that maybe screamed at her when Yang’s lips brushed the hard shell of her left ear. “Do I intrigue you, Blake?”

She remained silent and only when Yang’s amused breath tickled the hairs on the back of her neck did she realize her head nodded in answer. Cursing her rebellious body, Blake was sure, there would have been no maybe’s, had Blake been who she was now when she arrived she was sure that would have been enough for Yang to wear the rest of her boundaries down. Her walls were already so close to crumbling in her arms. 

Yang’s soft fingers wrapped gently beneath her chin, tilting her mouth to meet hers at what should have been an impossible angle. How she wanted to let go and see where it took her, but one night was not what she was looking for. She didn’t want to be one of Yang’s conquests, only to be forgotten the next week when she’d just choose another. So though she found herself sinking into Yang’s touch and even leaning towards her wantonly seeking out the soft lips offered to her, she pulled away instead. 

“I can’t.” The words came out whispered, half in anguish at whatever was being forfeited with her words. 

She felt the last puff of air brush her cheek before yang gathered her composure to pull away. Her fingers slipped from her chin and the warmth her body supplied was taken away as she moved to take her chair. And though her body withdrew, Blake still had to fight off the delicious scent of Yang’s perfume still lingering on her skin. 

“Another time.” Yang smiled despite her evident disappointment as she took another drink from her glass. Blake followed suit, taking strength in the alcohol as it ran down the back of her throat, only half choking on it with the realization Yang’s kiss would have tasted the same. Her next sip she let rest on her tongue. Even if she couldn’t go through with it, she could still allow herself the daydream.

“Another time.” Blake responded before setting her empty glass down. Looking at the clock she realized how late it was; she’d need to be up in a few hours to pack. She was sure Weiss would not allow her to sleep in, no matter how late she stayed up tonight.

“You have to go?” Yang asked, noticing her wandering eye.

“I should.”

“I’m sorry if I—”

Blake hurried to cut her off before she could apologize fully. Although she couldn’t allow Yang to be anything but a friend, it still felt nice to be wanted in that way and a part of her felt a thrill at knowing she could pull such reactions out of someone like her. “You’re fine, it’s just getting late.” 

Yang accompanied her to the elevator, helping steady her when Blake’s legs refused to move as she commanded. Yang laughed at her but otherwise remained thankfully silent on the matter. She’d seen Ruby and Yang together and knew Yang had a lethal wit and Blake was not looking to be cut open any more than she’d already let herself be.

“Good night, Blake.” Yang smiled, leaning on the door to prevent the elevator from closing before they said their farewells. 

“Good night, Yang.”

They both stood there, taking in the other’s presence. There seemed to be a finality in this departure that was not present with the rest of them; a final goodbye of sorts. Blake knew not what to say. How could she thank Yang for what she’d given her? How, when she wasn’t quite sure of what all the past two weeks had given her? 

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Yang finally broke the silence.

“You don’t have to get up so early.”

“I wouldn’t miss saying a proper— sober— goodbye.” Yang’s smile was once again her normal friendly one. No more was there a sinister, or seductive upturn of her lips, just her smiling genuinely at Blake once again.

“I’ll see you in the morning then.”

Yang nodded and took a step back, waving as the elevator closed on her, the same way she’d waved the day Blake arrived. There was a heaviness in the pit of her stomach as she made her way to and silently through her room. The last thing she needed was for Weiss to be picking her brain on what had happened tonight. No, she would much prefer to have a sober mind before Weiss got to her. 

———————————————

_How do you say goodbye to someone both so familiar and also so much a stranger to you?_

“She’s staring at you again.” Weiss’ voice broke through the fog of her wandering mind. She’d gotten no sleep the night before. Images of the past two weeks and some of what could possibly have been swam in her vision everytime she closed her eyes. It kept her up and now, as they were all packed and waiting for the Limo to take them to the airport, she felt the drain of her energy reserves. She was sure it was due to more than a restless night, however.”

“Who?”

Weiss scoffed and had she been looking in her direction Blake was sure she’d see Weiss’ trademark eyeroll at her feigned ignorance. “Who do you think?”

With a clearer head Blake was able to feel Yang’s gaze. She turned to the front desk, and in the doorway to her office stood Yang. She was dressed casually, well she was dressed nicely in a light green blouse and tanned slacks, but was void of her familiar uniform. When she found Blake’s attention had drifted to her she stepped around the marble desk. 

Not wanting any of the Schnees to overhear their conversation, Blake stepped away, leaving her things with Weiss to keep an eye on. Yang led her to an empty hallway adjacent the lobby before turning to face her.

“All packed and ready to go I see.” Yang spoke, her voice quivering in an unfamiliar pattern. Was she nervous? Blake didn’t think Yang had many farewell’s like theirs, and yet neither had she, but she found her nerves surprisingly calm.

“Yeah, I am not looking forward to the hour drive to the airport though.”

“I don’t suppose you would be.” Yang tilted her head, scrutinizing her as she had so many times. “You could always just stay here. Schnee problem solved!”

Blake laughed at the joke but wasn’t quite convinced it was one with Yang’s half hearted attempt to join her. When their mirth died silence enveloped them. Yang tucked both hands into the pockets of her slacks in what Blake assumed was an attempt to still them. 

The invasion of personal space, for the first time, was initiated by Blake. She stepped forward, pulling Yang’s hands from their hiding places and holding them firmly in her own grasp. She wanted to say something, to tell Yang how much the past two weeks meant to her, and how she felt like she was different, in a good way, to the her that had entered the resort what seemed like a lifetime ago. For the first time in her life words failed her. Not in a way she could not get them out, but in a way that there seemed no to be a string of them that could properly tell Yang all she wanted to. Instead, she leaned forward, not unlike she had the night before, and sought out Yang’s lips with her own. 

Yang’s surprise at her actions was made evident with gasp that sucked the air from Blake’s lungs. She didn’t mind, especially when Yang’s surprise faded and her lips moved against hers. The butterflies were back, lifting her from the ground to make her feel as if she was floating. Where on the cliff all she wanted was for them to succeed, now she wished them to stop, so she could feel the ground beneath her feet. 

When they parted, both were out of breath. Yang’s fingers had somehow found the soft hair at the nape of her neck and she felt them drawing comforting circles against her neck as Yang’s other drew similar patterns along the pulse of her wrist. 

With a huff, she willed her spine to strengthen against Yang’s expert ministrations wanting the opposite. “Another time.” Blake whispered.

“Another life.” Yang returned, her breath imbedding the words against Blake’s lips. 

“Another life.” Blake agreed before willing her body to back away. Yang’s hands dropped to her side and she watched as Yang shoved them firmly into her pockets once again. Blake was sure, accompanied with the darkened look in Yang’s eyes that they were not put there to hide, but to protect them from what they both may have wanted in another lifetime. 

When she turned, she forced her eyes to remain on Weiss, and then the exit as their Limo pulled up just in time for Blake to rush into the interior first. She didn’t even care about the indignant glares her rudeness garnered her. Weiss pushed past her mother to crawl in beside her, grasping her hand tightly against the seat between them. 

For the first time in their friendship, Weiss did not pry or ask what had happened between them, and in the coming months she would follow the same code. Whatever Yang was, she was not something Blake wanted to share with anyone else.


	2. Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out Battlesnow's art
> 
> https://twitter.com/B4ttleSn0w/status/1328135933003255809
> 
> https://battlesnow36.tumblr.com/post/634899401024897024/hey-this-are-my-piece-for-bumblebybigbang

_ We are creatures of habit. But where habit turns living into simply surviving, something must be done to break the cycle lest we lose hope of a better way. _

As summer came to a close Blake’s focus returned to her classes and normal life. The spell of the season broke and soon her summer fling—or whatever you’d call it—was all but a distant memory. Weiss would mention the girl a few times in the weeks leading up to semester start but would soon realize Blake had no intention of keeping in contact with the young aspiring resort manager. She wasn’t ready for that kind of relationship, and although she had love for the girl who’d made her vacation more magical than the drabness of a usual Schnee holiday, she wasn’t ever in danger of falling in love with her.

Maybe if both their circumstances were different.

Things returned to normal, mostly; a feeling of rejuvenation still clung to Blake, an excitement of what might come next. It was something she’d never felt before, having always known what was around the corner because she prepared for it, and hadn’t ever deviated from that line. Returning to her apartment and familiar surroundings allowed Blake to fall into a comfortable routine. At first she reveled in the simplicity of her recognizable life. After pushing her nerves to their limit on her vacation the dulled vibration of them being settled allowed her to breathe easy once more. 

But that feeling, that wanton need to step outside her perfectly constructed box created an itch Blake could not simply scratch. She kept telling herself, trying to appease the itch that once classes started up again she would do something more than what the last month of complacency had gotten her. As her body autopilot through the first weeks back, classes, study sessions, tea and a book before bed, sleep; the rinse and repeat of it all slowly threatened to drive that other, new, need over the edge to the point some nights Blake wanted to throw her beloved book against the wall. How mundane her comfortable life now felt. 

It was this nagging irritant that pushed her to insanity. Blake had never been one to party, that was long established within her circle of friends to the point they’d stopped asking her to join them on nights out. There were only so many times one can hear the word no after all. 

Though one fateful afternoon she allowed Weiss to drag her to coffee with their other friends. It was all an act. Weiss knew Neptune would be there and she was determined not to look the part of a heartbroken damsel, even if it were the case, and Blake was to be her support and scapegoat if things went sour. Where the old Blake would have ordered her drink and let her mind wander to other subjects more entertaining to her reclusive nature, this time Neptune and Sun’s stories of their drunken escapades drew her attention. More accurately, their stories awoke that itch again. So, it came as a surprise to everyone, especially Blake herself, when she spoke up asking if she could join them the upcoming weekend.

———————————

The music blared from the club’s open door, its force vibrating across Blake’s skin. The screams and high pitched laughter from the group of strangers next to her broke her out of the stupor she’d found herself frozen in. She could still turn back, catch a taxi home and make up some excuse as to why she never showed, if anyone ever asked; they’d probably all assumed she was only joking when she agreed to come. Stepping through the door seemed final, like the end to something she did not quite understand, and though a part of her feared that loss, the itch she’d only known as an annoyance now pulsed pleasantly with the bass coming from the club. The music, drinks and… adventure, everything on the other side of that doorway called to this new feeling within her. It called to her, and though she feared what might be lost, Blake ultimately stepped through the door with a smile on her face, the feeling growing giddy with anticipation.

She weaved her way through the crowds swaying just inside the entrance and quickly flashed her ID to the door man before squeezing around what looked to be a group of bright eyed freshmen. Fake IDs, she knew, were a thing but she’d never known anyone to have had one before. One of the boys lifted their hand and waved at someone across the room and when Blake’s eyes darted in the same direction she saw Sun returning the kid’s gesture. Of course Sun and Neptune would be caught up in something as immature as fake IDs. At least the interaction allowed her to find her friends, even if it did negatively affect Blake’s perception of the two partiers of their group, not that her esteem was high in the first place regarding them. If there was one thing Blake agreed with Weiss’ father on it was that her relationship with Neptune was based solely on her need to rebel and slum it for a semester more than it was a love match.

With her eyes glued to the back of Sun’s white T-shirt so she didn’t lose track of him, she quickly made her way through the undulating crowd. It took her two tries to get Sun’s attention at the bar, him having assumed the first tap on his shoulder was an accidental bump from someone else waiting to give their order. But the second try he did a half-turn to look over his shoulder. He seemed bewildered to find her here, even though she said she’d come. He had been the one to give her the name of the club earlier that afternoon and everything. It was obvious now, he’d never expected her to show.

“Blake?” His voice was high in his surprise. He recovered quickly and swept her up into a hug, pulling her past a disgruntled drunk that had refused to let her step around him earlier. “What are you—” he paused, seeming to catch himself, not wanting to give away his wonderment at her turning up at all. He instead took a breath and looked her up and down for the first time since they’d first met. She once thought Sun had a crush on her, but his attention wandered to more exciting girls when he realized how much of a hermit Blake really was. “You look amazing.” 

“Thanks,” she smiled, feeling awkward in the compliment. Though Weiss refused to accompany her, knowing Neptune’s reputation, she had been kind enough to allow her to borrow a navy halter top that was a size too small for her. She felt out of place in it, even if the black jeans she wore were her own, she wasn’t used to wearing form fitting clothing, especially none so revealing as this one which left her arms and midriff on display. 

“Like, you look really—”

“Right,” she stepped forward interrupting him, embarrassed now with his wandering gaze, “are you going to buy me a drink?”

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Of course I will. Pick your poison.”

Blake rolled her eyes and shrugged, she really didn’t drink often, and finally she just blurted the first thing that came to her, mindful of the others behind them waiting to place their orders. “Rum and coke.”

“Malibu?” Sun asked, turning to wave down the bartender as she passed. “Can I get three Buds and a rum and coke? Malibu.”

“Actually,” Blake rolled her eyes at Sun’s assumption she wanted a tropical drink, “dark rum please,” she spoke to the girl behind the bar. She could feel Sun’s surprised stare on the back of her neck but the girl smiled, seemingly entertained with their interaction. 

Nodding at the both of them she turned to grab the bottles of beer from the cooler behind the bar. Not wanting to face Sun, and now terrified that whatever crush he’d laid to rest might now be blossoming again, Blake kept her eyes on the bartender. She was edgy looking, wearing all black, button up shirt and jeans, with a pair of black combat boots finishing off her ensemble. Her hair was dyed black but held red highlights in the top layers, but Blake could see her natural blonde growing from the roots as she leaned over, reaching into the half empty ice bin. She had three braids woven from her left temple to the back of her neck before the entire mass of wild hair hung in waves over her right shoulder. When she leaned over the bar to yell the price at Sun standing at her back Blake was able to make out patterns shaved into the short hair below the bartender’s braids. 

She realized she was staring when the girl spoke to her. ”Anything else I can get for you, babe?”

“I… no,” Blake stuttered, which seemed to amuse the bartender even more. “I… I like how you’ve done your hair, is all.” She shrugged, grabbing her drink from the bartop before bringing the straw to her lips. The liquid soothed both her dry throat and her shattered nerves. Where was the giddy thrumming feeling from earlier?

“Sun, get this one out of here.” The girl laughed, shooing them both away with a flick of her wrist. “She’s too innocent.”

“You never change.” Sun yelled back at her, ushering Blake away from the bar not even waiting for a response. Blake supposed the statement didn’t need one, but she would like to know what Sun meant. The way the bartender called her innocent also irked her. The girl didn’t know a thing about her and a part of her wanted to turn around and prove her wrong somehow, but Blake came to realize there wouldn’t be anything in her past that would impress the bartender anyway, besides the fact she’d once dived off a cliff, though she didn’t trust her hands to not shake at the memory of that day.

Once free from the overcrowded bar Sun dropped his hand from her back and stepped around her. She followed the rest of the way, sipping her drink and wondering why she was even here exactly.

“Look who I found at the bar.” Sun yelled loudly as they came up to a table full of familiar faces. 

There were a few she did not recognize but she was soon introduced to the unknowns, one of which stepped forward, interrupting Sun to introduce himself. He was fairly tall, with brown hair and green eyes. “Jim,” he said while holding out his hand. Blake took it politely but was taken aback when he brought her hand to his lips and kiss the back of it. “Blake is a beautiful name by the way,” he said as he dropped her hand and stood to his full height. He wore a plain grey long sleeved shirt and a pair of distressed blue jeans.

She wasn’t quite sure how to respond so she just smiled, hoping that was polite enough of a gesture. She caught sight of Pyrrha waving at her from around Jim’s tall frame. Using politeness as an excuse she stepped around Jim with another small smile to give Pyrrha a hug. Jaune was ever present glued to Pyrrha’s other side, arm thrown around her shoulder in a silent possessive manner. Blake smiled at him but secretly rolled her eyes at the couple. It was well known that Pyrrha was way out of his league, being tall and athletic, the flame haired amazon could easily have her pick of any guy in the room, but she had chosen the dorky, clumsy guy on her left side. Jaune was nice, and Blake had never had an issue with him in the three years she’d known both him and Pyrrha, but he was far from exciting in any way. She supposed they made a good match. Though Pyrrha was popular on campus she was kind of a homebody at heart. It was how Blake and her had become such good friends, how could she blame Jaune for lucking out the same way she had as a friend?

“Oh, take mine,” Jim motioned to his vacated seat. “You girls should sit together.” He smiled before winking at Pyrrha. “Besides, I think Pyrrha was getting quite tired of being sandwiched in by two towering men.”

“Oh? Funny—” Blake took the offered seat, setting her half empty drink down on the table. “I thought Pyrrha was taller than Jaune.”

Timing is everything, for at that moment Jaune was taking a healthy swig from the new beer Sun had acquired for him. Upon hearing Blake’s accidental insult he choked on the liquid and Pyrrha had to rub his back for him to get past the coughing fit that followed.

“I’ll have you know I  _ am _ taller than Pyrrha,” he stated proudly, wheezing through his irritated windpipe. “I’m a whole half and one 8th inch taller than her, we measured.”

“You mean 5/8ths?” Blake questioned innocently, bringing her straw to her mouth to hide the smirk that threatened to follow her words.

“Either way, both are taller than you, shorty.” Jaune grumbled, taking a small sip from his bottle as he pouted. Pyrrha rubbed his back soothingly but sent Blake a playful roll of her eyes, to let her know she was as amused as her with the conversation.

“I should hope I’m taller than 5/8ths,” Blake gasped.

“That’s not—” This time Blake could not hide the upturn at the corner of her mouth and Jaune was still sober enough to notice it himself. He glared at her, mistrustful of her now. To be fair, he knew very little of Blake’s humour, they’d rarely spoken and most of the time when they found themselves alone together for short periods of time, they both seemed content to remain silent. “You’ve changed,” he spat in an accusing tone.

“I have not.” Blake turned to Pyrrha for back up but she seemed as surprised with Blake’s sass as her boyfriend. Though they were close friends, Blake wasn’t known to speak up in larger groups, even if the group consisted of familiar friends. 

With Jaune pouting, it allowed Pyrrha and Blake a chance to catch up and Blake found she was actually enjoying the evening. The music was still too loud and it was warmer than she would have preferred, though with as many bodies that were packed in the club as there were, Blake didn’t think much could be done for the latter. Even the new addition, Jim, didn’t seem to bother her. He was nice, even if he tended to insert himself into her and Pyrrha’s conversation uninvited. He was amusing, if not funny, and offered to refill their glasses more than once. 

As Blake’s glass came near to empty she would find another placed at her elbow before she ever had the chance to mention a refill. 

“Do you know the owner?” Jim asked her as the fourth drink appeared mysteriously. 

“No, this is my first time here, actually,” Blake responded, confused at his assumption. “Why do you ask?” 

“Well, I suppose you do make a good first impression.” He nodded to the new drink in her hand, the one she was about to take a sip from.

“Huh?” She looked down at the drink, jaw tightening. “I don’t understand.”

“Well,” Jim scoffed humorously. “To get that many free drinks, someone behind the bar must like you.”

“Oh!” Blake exclaimed, just realizing without Pyrrha’s conversation as a distraction, that it wasn’t Sun or Jim that’d been refilling her glass all night. She looked to the bar, trying and failing to catch a glimpse of the girl from earlier through the constant crowd surrounding that area of the club. She thought of getting up to go thank her, it was nice of her to try to make her feel welcome even if she was  _ too innocent _ for the place, but at that moment Neptune tried to climb over the back of the booth to squeeze in between Sun and some random girl they picked up on the dance floor half hour earlier. 

For the life of her, Blake didn’t know which one the girl followed to the table but she seemed quite content on stringing both along whilst they fought over her. Unfortunately for Neptune who was an athlete, he lost all instinct of coordination when he was drunk. Blake had found this out on one of the rare instances she’d let Weiss talk her into letting them drink when they came over for movie nights in the past. She’d learned quickly to put any breakables in her bedroom before they arrived after the first night. Come to think of it, he still owed her a crystal rabbit she’d gotten as a present from a friend long ago.

As Neptune slid into the booth from above his foot kicked the leg holding the table and it toppled into her, Pyrrha and Jaune’s laps, drinks and all. Jaune and Jim were quick to right the table, getting its weight off of her and Pyrrha, but the damage was done. Weiss was going to kill her for the stains she could only imagine would never come out; most noticeably the dance floor girl’s purple martini, freshly refilled courtesy of the same idiot that spilled it on her.

“Ugh,” Pyrrha groaned. 

“Neptune!” Jaune yelled.

“Are you okay?” Jim asked, noticing Blake’s concern over the shirt.

“It’s borrowed…” Blake slurred. Raising her eyes to meet Jim’s green ones she noticed how sluggish the simple movement felt. This is what being drunk was like? “I guess it’s now mine though.” She laughed, and then laughed some more when she realized she had no reason for laughing. Weiss would definitely come close to killing her, and yet here she was acting as if nothing was the matter. She wondered if she blamed Neptune if that would garner her a pass on Weiss’ tirade on respecting other people’s property. It was worth a shot.

“Here, let’s get you up.” Jim’s hand came into view and again she took it automatically. He was smiling at her and she smiled back politely. “You’re sitting in half of it still.” She allowed him to guide her to her feet and Pyrrha and Jaune soon followed her example. 

“Well I think that’s the end of this night.” Jaune growled. 

“It’s only alcohol,” Pyrrha tried to placate his sour mood, though by the depth of his creased forehead she didn't think Pyrrha was going to prevail. “But I agree. I really need a shower and a change of clothes, it might as well be pajamas for the night.” Everyone gave a half-hearted snicker at her joke, and it even pulled a loving eye roll from her boyfriend.

They headed for the exit, wading through and around the dancing crowd and it wasn’t until they were outside that Blake realized she’d never thanked the bartender with all the commotion. Looking back to the club’s entrance she took a step away from the group. She didn’t want to be rude.

“Blake!” Pyrrha called out to her. “Get in, we’ll share a taxi.” 

She turned from the pulsing beat to find her friend smiling warmly to her. Realizing she’d much rather upset a stranger than a friend, Blake abandoned her quest for the bartender and instead slipped into the taxi beside Pyrrha. She noticed Jim hop in the front seat and he immediately started a conversation on some recent sport’s score that distracted the driver from staring too closely at their fouled clothing in his back seat and Blake found herself grateful for Jim’s continued kindness. Pyrrha gave an address that Blake was about to protest, the route taking them past Jaune and Pyrrha’s place to drop her off first, but the look Pyrrha sent her told her there was no way they were being dropped off before she knew Blake was home safe so she relented, resting her spinning head on Pyrrha’s shoulder in a form of gratitude for her protective kindness.

When they arrived at her apartment Jim jumped out and jogged around the car to open her door for her. She thought it was nice, if a little dorky in the gentlemanliness of it all. He offered to walk Blake to the door in Pyrrha’s stead which Pyrrha readily agreed. It made Blake feel safe, knowing Pyrrha approved of this man’s character in such a way, as there was no way she’d let some creep walk her to the door while she was drunk.

“It was very nice to meet you, Blake.” Jim said as he walked beside her, there was a jump to his steps that indicated excitement, or possible nervousness that Blake was in no shape to try to decode so she tried to ignore it.

“You too, Jim.” She agreed, digging in her bag for her apartment keys.

“You should come out more often,” he continued leaning against the wall beside the locked door she was still searching for the keys for.

“I think I might,” she affirmed with a nod. “I had fun for the most part, minus the ending.”

“I don’t know…” Jim drawled. “I quite enjoy how the night has finished off.”

“You didn’t get half a dozen dr—” she hiccoughed, and giggled at the interruption it caused. “You didn’t get covered in any drinks.”

“You are right, but even if I had, if it meant I got to walk you to your door at the end of the night, I’d be completely fine with that.” 

Blake studied him, harder than she’d studied the complex math equations earlier in class. She blamed the alcohol for her slow brain function but seeing the smile Jim wore and replaying the words he’d said she realized he was flirting with her. Had he been flirting all night? She had half a mind to return to the taxi and ask Pyrrha, but knew that would come off rude to leave him standing at her apartment with no explanation, especially after his kind words. She could always text Pyrrha later.

She returned his smile with a shy one of her own. “I’m sure you would be. Such a charmer you are, aren’t you?”

“Depends if my charms are working I suppose,” he laughed. “A poor charmer I’d be with failed spells.” She snorted at his joke. “Would you like to get coffee with me one day this week?”

She’d found her keys a few moments prior but continued to dig for them in hopes it would give her a few more precious seconds to think. This was all new to her after all, but why had she left the comfort of her apartment at all, if not to try new things. The thought of this night out being a one time occurrence made her physically ill for some reason. Jim was nice, and there were definitely worse guys out there that she could have ended up here with. So before the cool night air could sober her any further, she opened her mouth and said, “I’d like that,” before she pulled her elusive keys from her bag. 

“Great!” he exclaimed, watching her struggle only a few moments with fitting the key in the lock. “I’ll get Pyrrha to text you my number. I’d put it in your phone myself, but with how long it took you to find your keys, I fear the sun would rise before you dug your phone from your bag, and watching the sun rise together is just too romantic for a pre-date.”

“Pre-date?” Blake asked amused, only rolling her eyes at the jab he took at her sluggish movements. He was cute, in a charming geeky kind of way. 

“The meeting before the date, of course,” he answered easily.

“Of course.” Blake nodded again. She opened the door and took a step inside before she turned back to him. Jim took the handle to hold the door for her. He met her eye as she gauged him again; finally not finding any reason to decline him she waved him away. “Go on then, Pyrrha has my number.”

The smile that spread across his face was endearing and he was almost halfway to the taxi when he spun back around, catching the door just as the lock was about to catch. Pulling it open with a stronger pull than was needed he poked his head through the door. 

“Good night, Blake.”

She scoffed but waved him away as she started climbing the stairs. “Good night, Jim.”

———————— 

_ Seeking newness in a stranger so like you, isn’t change. It’s not a step forward but just a step sideways in complacency; another form of insanity. _

She hadn’t told any of her friends she had a date, even though Pyrrha could assume it would be the outcome of giving her Jim’s number, but she never confirmed it when Pyrrha was dropping hints through text the next day. The way Blake saw it was that nothing might come of it so why get everyone in a tizzy about her going on a date in the first place. Even Weiss, who was her closest confidant, didn’t know she’d even met Jim, let alone given him her number. Because it was a secret and she’d already gotten an earful from Weiss on her ruined shirt Blake knew better than to ask to borrow anything, so instead she chose something comfortable: blue jeans and a black T-shirt. It wasn’t fancy and others might have thought she was dressing down for a date, but it was just coffee after all. She wasn’t going to show up in a dress for mid-afternoon coffee.

The butterflies in her stomach drove her crazy as she drove to the off campus coffee shop. She didn’t want to risk being seen by any of her friends, and they were all huge caffeine addicts so closer shops were out of the question. Jim hadn’t questioned her choice of venue, and if he guessed her reasons for meeting so far away he didn’t voice them. The negative to the distance was it gave her ample time to work herself up. Without the courage of the alcohol from the other night she feared what she was walking into, but that itch that just would not leave her alone kept her from turning the car around.

She arrived early, with the hopes that it would give her nerves time to settle before he arrived, but to her dismay, when she stepped through the glass door of the cafe Jim stood from a table near the back and waved enthusiastically at her. She bit her tongue to prevent her cursing her bad luck aloud and plastered a smile she hoped looked genuine onto her lips. He greeted her with a warm hug that wasn’t as awkward as she would have thought before asking what she wanted. After giving him her order he raced off to place it with the girl working the register. It gave Blake a much needed minute to berate herself. This was just coffee, there was no pressure for anything to happen here and if it was a complete disaster, then it was no big deal. The purpose of this was to do something outside her comfort zone, something new, or so she kept telling herself. If she was completely honest with herself she had no idea what she was trying to accomplish with all her irrational decisions as of late. 

When he returned Blake wrapped her hands around the mug he set in front of her; the warmth settled the slight shake that had formed there.

“How mad was Schnee?” Jim spoke first, breaking the silence.

Blake winced, remembering the glare Weiss had given her the day before when she returned the garment. “Let’s just say I’m going to be on her shit list for awhile. That was one of her favourite shirts.”

“Tough break,” he sympathized. “How did that happen anyway?”

“You were there.” she stated, brow furrowing in confusion. “Neptune clumsily upset the table and-”

“Not that,” he laughed. “I meant you and Schnee being friends. It seems an unlikely pairing to me.”

“How so?” She raised a brow while blowing gently over the top of her mug, the creamy liquid rippled and a strong aroma of caffeine assailed her. She breathed deep before taking an experimental sip. 

“You just seem like complete opposites,” he answered easily, leaning casually into the cushioned back of his chair.

“And how much do you know about me to be judge?”

“I know you’re not uptight like she is.” His tone was resolute and it stung the reclusive side that still resided inside Blake.

“In some aspects I can be moreso,” she answered carefully, gauging his reaction.

He snorted, amused at her response. “Really? I can’t picture it.”

“Weiss isn’t bad.” Blake tried again, feeling the need to defend her. “She’s actually my closest friend. She really does have some good qualities.”

“I guess there was a reason Neptune stayed with her for as long as he did.” Jim winked at her, giving in to her more credible account of Weiss’ character than his own.

“Weiss is… she’s extremely loyal and protective of her friends, but she’s just very selective on those she allows in.” Tapping her index finger on the ceramic of the mug Blake studied him again. “We have that in common, I suppose.”

He must have noticed her cautious intent because he didn’t answer right away. Leaning forward he seemed to study her in a new light. “I somehow don’t see you gaining the nickname of Ice Queen though,” he stated, neither agreeing or disagreeing with her self assessment.

Blake chuckled. “No, I don’t think so, but I’ve been called uptight and bitter before.” She lifted her shoulders and released a deep sigh. “I’ve become a sort of hermit, but that’s something I think I want to change.”

“That’s why I hadn’t met you before Saturday night then?”

“Basically,” she answered with a curt nod of her head.

“Well I’m glad you decided to come out.” The way he pursed his lips, causing the skin to turn white, chasing the blood from them told her she might not have been the only one nervous at this meeting. To think someone else might be nervous to meet her when they had such an obvious outgoing personality struck her as odd, but it somehow made her feel elevated in a way she’d never before felt.

“I think I am too,” she answered softly into her mug.

“You’re not sure?” His probing to get a satisfactory response from her made her realize he might need more approbation than even her.

“Not yet, but there’s still time to make up my mind.” She smirked at him over the white rim of her mug.

“I look forward to helping you decide then.” He raised his mug in salute and it was so cheesy Blake couldn’t help rolling her eyes. Jim gave her a pointed look that said all she needed to know. She was acting like Weiss, and the purpose of all this was to become less closed off, not more so she lifted her own glass and let him connect them. “Cheers.” He said loudly, eyes sparkling, before he brought his mug to his mouth. 

Blake copied his movement and as the liquid warmed its way down her throat it settled the last of the butterflies living there. Maybe Jim wasn’t as scary as she thought. Maybe none of this was as scary as she’d worked herself up into thinking.

————————— 

_ There comes a time when one must choose between the security of a safe choice and the temptation of that which could destroy them.  _

In the week following their date, Jim texted her several times a day. Blake found it sweet and was happy to continue with whatever was possibly developing. She knew she still wasn’t ready for an actual relationship, and she just hoped she didn’t end up hurting him in some way. She’d voiced her concerns to both Weiss and Pyrrha, the former telling her to have fun, guys used women for similar reasons all the time and it was only fair play Blake returned the favour. The latter told her to be more up front with Jim, in case his idea of the budding relationship might be more than what she was willing to commit to. For her part, she was somewhere in the middle. She didn’t want to put Jim off altogether by having such a serious conversation after one innocent coffee date, but she also didn’t feel right about stringing him along for her amusement as Weiss had suggested. 

One of these days she would have to search out another guy for Weiss to fall for. It was so depressing watching her turn bitter and reclusive week after week. A small part of her brain reminded her that she’d been called the same not too long ago and Weiss was a good enough friend to have stuck up for her on multiple occasions. She instantly felt bad and sent Weiss a text asking her to come over to watch a movie. It helped ease her guilty conscience when Weiss finally replied saying she would be there.

As her Thursday classes were finishing she received another text from Jim asking if she wanted to meet up. She had an exam on Monday and really needed to study, and as she’d already told Pyrrha she would go out again Friday night she really couldn’t afford both nights off. So she typed out an apology to Jim, but asked if he was joining them the next day. It was agreed that instead of him picking her up for dinner that night for their second date, that he would pick her up on Friday instead.

She talked Weiss into lending her another shirt, under the stipulation that she accompanied Weiss on her next trip to the mall and would buy her own clothing decent enough for going out and any further dates she might have in the future. She agreed readily because this whole thing made her realize her wardrobe was severely lacking in anything nice, though it had plenty in the comforts department. The shirt she borrowed was a dark purple and she chose it, half because it was her favourite colour and half because she couldn’t remember ever seeing Weiss wear it and therefore she might not be angry if there was another mishap like last weekend. It was again at least a half size too small, which meant there was an inch of her middle, above her jeans, that was showing. It was another halter so her shoulders were again bare, and if the club got as hot tonight as it did last Saturday Blake would be grateful for it. This one had straps that criss-crossed along her back and it made her feel as if she was half naked, but Weiss said it looked amazing on her, so even with her apprehension she agreed to wear it.

The way Jim’s eyes seemed to drink in her image when she exited the apartment later that night told her he agreed with Weiss’ summation.

“You look amazing.” 

She decided to wear her hair half up, pinned back with a flower clip, only leaving a few stray curling strands to frame her face, and she had to force her hand to her side with his compliment as she had a habit of tucking her hair behind her ears when she was nervous. She didn’t want to ruin her hair, nor was there enough hair free to placate her habit anyway. 

“You don’t look half bad yourself.” Blake returned.

Blake found she wasn’t nervous at all and the ease with which she’d found talking to him in the cafe wasn’t a fluke. When he spoke of his programming classes she tended to drift off with boredom, but she assumed he would feel similar if she were to go on a rant about one of her books, so it wasn’t really a turn off when they pulled up to the club and he realized he’d spent the entire time talking programming to a girl that knew nothing on the subject.

“I’m sorry, I just get so into the aspects of it sometimes, especially when I’ve been working around the clock on a big assignment. I forget not everyone finds it as fascinating as I do.” He laughed nervously. “Next time just tell me to shut up.”

“That’s okay, I like listening to you talk about it.” She had to elaborate at his confused expression. “You sound so excited. Some people don’t ever find something that makes them feel like that.”

“Did you?” he asked as he opened the door, turning around to offer her his hand.

“Books,” she stated simply, letting him help her from the taxi.

“You’re a book nerd?” he exclaimed in shock.

“Better that, than a computer nerd.” Her tone was accusing and defensive and the glare she shot him was one of indignation.

“Oh, shots fired,” he flinched, lifting both hands in surrender. “I get it, books are a touchy subject and one to be revered in your presence.” Blake softened her glare to let him know he was forgiven for his slight and allowed him to lead her into the club. After a quick scan of the space for their friends Jim spoke the obvious, “looks like we’re the first one’s here.”

“We should probably find somewhere to sit then.” 

Leaving him to find a table, she approached the bar, already knowing his beer of choice. It was only fair she got the first round when he bought her a coffee on their first date, right? Arriving earlier than she had the previous weekend, the club was fairly empty and Blake was able to easily step to the counter without worrying about any elbows jabbing her along the way. 

The same girl was wiping down glasses behind the bar and Blake noticed for the first time that there were three others sharing the space with her, two of which were doing the same as her, organizing their stations. She hadn’t even noticed there was more than her working last weekend, though most of the bar was blocked from view by other drunks, and the lights were dimmed far more than they were now for the pre-rush regulars.

She was dressed in the same black jeans, but this time she wore a navy shirt, a Harley printed on the front with the sleeves cut off, showing the toned muscles of the bartender’s arms. Her hair must have been newly dyed in the same red and black tones as the inch of blonde at her roots was now missing.

“Hey,” the girl smiled when she looked up from her work and recognized Blake. “Good to see you back. What can I get for you?” But as she opened her mouth to relay her order the girl stopped her. “Lemme guess… a rum and Coke, dark.”

It was then that Blake remembered the free drinks she’d enjoyed the previous week. “Yes, and a Budweiser, please.” 

The girl nodded sparing a quick glance at the tables along the wall, seeing Jim sitting alone she tipped her chin to him. He waved politely in greeting. “The Bud for him?” she asked, already turning to grab the bottle.

“Yeah.” There was a not quite awkward silence, but an uneasy energy seemed to build in the space between her and the bartender. Blake spoke the words she hadn’t had the chance to the previous night in hopes of easing the tension. “I wanted to thank you for the drinks last week.”

“What do you mean?” Her voice was half drowned out by the sound of her digging in the ice bin.

“Well It wasn’t anyone from my group that was refilling my glass all night, so I assumed it was you.”

“Oh? Did you now?” One perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised in surprise.

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.” Blake peered at her over the bar as she topped her glass off with Coke.

She snorted. “I’m just playing with you, of course it was me.”

Blake groaned, not amused with the girl’s game but smiled through her annoyance. “I’m not sure why you did, but thanks.”

“Babe, it was those golden doe eyes of yours. Those can get you into a lot of trouble in a place like this.” She picked up the towel she’d been wiping the glasses with and motioned to the dance floor before running it over the wood top between them until it was clean enough for the strobing dance floor lights to reflect off it.

“I don’t understand.”

“Better to send you a few drinks than have some guy trying to end his night in orgasmic bliss by spiking your drink unknowingly.”

“That wouldn’t happen.” Blake defended, embarrassed at the implication she wasn’t able to take care of herself.

“How can you be so sure?”

“I know my friends, they’d never.”

“Perhaps not, but you drank every one of the drinks I sent and you obviously weren’t sure where they were coming from. How do you know I wasn’t drugging you?” She leaned over the bar, forearms resting on the polished wood.

“I—” the words caught in the back of her throat. Replaying the night over in her head, she’d just assumed Sun or Jim had refilled her glass and looking back on it, she hadn’t known Jim at all back then, she’d just trusted him because her friends seemed to trust him. “I don’t”

“My point exactly. You’re too innocent for your own good, love.”

“I’m not innocent,” she grumbled under her breath. The bartender leaned forward to catch her words and the tattoos on her arms caught Blake’s attention for the first time, but she stepped back, removing her arms from the bar before Blake could quite make them out.

The bartender looked her up and down, taking in her outfit and make-up. “Maybe not,” she agreed after appraising her, “but you best be more cautious tonight.”

“I will.” Blake agreed, knowing the validity of her words of warning.

“Glad to hear it.” She smirked, but her features turned into something altogether predatory, it was a look Blake was sure she should be wary of, but at the same time she was drawn to it. “Wouldn’t want you to end up prey for anyone you shouldn’t tonight.”

The energy between them seemed to spark and Blake felt the need to break the barrier, even knowing how she’d be stung if she did. “I—”

“Hey, Blake.” A familiar voice called from behind her. The tension broke and fizzled as the bartender turned to throw the towel into a bin behind her. “Jim sent me to see what was taking you so long. Hey, Sunshine.” Sun tilted his chin to the bartender. 

“Hey, Sun,” she replied. “What can I getcha.”

“A couple Buds.” 

When she returned with the beers Blake held out a twenty for payment of her own drinks, realizing they’d not finished that transaction yet, but her hand and money were ignored as the girl had eyes only for Sun now. “That’ll be twenty five.”

“Even if you’re charging me for Blake’s which I assume is the case, that’s too much.”

“Were you not going to tip your favourite barkeep?” She turned to send a conspiratory wink Blake’s way. The action caused Blake’s jaw to tighten as a new feeling warmed her navel. It surprised her to realize the feeling was arousal. She stood there in shock as they haggled over what the bartender’s favour was worth before Sun gave up and threw thirty dollars onto the bar. 

“Don’t be asking me for anymore tonight, you hear?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” She scooped up the money and threw the twenty in the till but stuffed the extra ten he’d given her into her back pocket.

“Come on, Blake” Sun elbowed her, taking Jim’s beer from her hand. She jumped to catch up, not knowing what she’d do or even say to the bartender now that she realized the reactions she could pull from her. She’d never been aroused by another person before, not like that, not from something as simple as a wink. “You better steer clear of Sunshine.”

“Wait,” she was forced from her inner turmoil at Sun’s voice, “that’s actually her name?”

Sun shrugged. “It’s all I’ve ever known her as.”

“She seems harmless.” Even as the words left her lips she knew their falsehood. 

“Then you are a worse judge of character than I thought.”

“She’s been nice to me,” Blake tried again.

“And you don’t think there might be a reason for that?” He laughed. “Trust me when I tell you to not get caught up in whatever she’s offering.”

“She didn’t offer me anything.”

“Good, let’s keep it that way,” he said with a tone of finality. “You’ve been keeping Jim waiting.”

As they approached the table Blake acknowledged Neptune and apologized to Jim for the wait, explaining that she was thanking the bartender for the drinks from last weekend. 

“It was Sunshine sending you those drinks?” Jim spat a mouthful of beer out with his exclamation. 

“Yeah, she was apparently worried I’d be too naive and let some guy spike my drink.” Blake rolled her eyes. She waited for Jim to wipe his face and compose himself again before continuing. “It was a nice gesture, but I told her I can take care of myself.”

“Oh, I’m sure she had other motives as well,” Neptune teased with a wiggle of his ridiculously blue eyebrows. She didn’t know why he insisted on dying them to match his hair this time around, it looked ridiculous.

“Shut up,” Sun emphasized his words with a sharp smack to the back of Neptune’s head.

Neptune retaliated with an elbow into Sun’s ribs and a tussle began. It wasn’t uncommon for the two to be caught wrestling for one reason or another, so both Blake and Jim were ready, swiping all the drinks off the table to save them a similar fate to the previous weekend. It ended with Sun in a headlock that Neptune didn’t let him out of until he tapped his defeat. 

They fell into an easy conversation once the boys’ beers were returned to them and Neptune’s comment seemed to be forgotten by all. But it wasn’t really, as Blake contributed her share to the discussion, her mind was swimming with the possibilities of Neptune’s words. Blake wasn’t naive enough to pretend not to know what motives he had been referring to, and Sun’s warning for her to stay away gave her a picture of the kind of girl Sunshine was. 

As the night wore on, Pyrrha and Jaune finally joined them and the distraction they added to the conversation allowed Blake to steal glances to the bar when no one was paying attention. The club didn’t fill up as it had before, probably due to midterms starting the following week, so Blake was able to catch glimpses of her often. During one of Sun’s longer over exaggerated tellings of some event he witnessed on campus she was able to watch Sunshine work for a full five minutes. She seemed to treat all customers the same, but Blake watched carefully every time a woman approached the bar, trying to see if the assumptions the others had given her were correct, and yet Sunshine didn’t flirt any more or less with them than she seemed to with the male’s she served. Blake was starting to think the others had the wrong idea; she might flirt to get more tips, but that didn’t mean it meant anything more. 

Just as the thought of Sunshine being harmless crossed her mind again the girl in question looked up from her work and met Blake’s stare. Surprised at being caught she jumped, turning inward to the conversation with Sun still at the center.

“Are you okay?” Jim asked, feeling her movement.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Blake breathed quickly, heart still racing. “Just a chill, but I’m fine now.”

“I don’t even have a jacket to lend you.” He answered, looking to the other guys at the table, noticing they all lacked anything to put over Blake’s shoulders.

“I’ll be fine,” she urged, placing a hand on his arm to ease his agitation at failing his gentlemanly duty, “really. It was nothing.”

As a compromise he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. “Does this work?” he asked cheekily.

“Yes,” she smiled softly, “thank you.” 

With her new position she couldn’t possibly hope to steal any more glances at the bar, not without Jim feeling the movement of her neck. Blake was glad of it as it forced her to pay attention to the people she was here for. Pyrrha and her struck up a conversation about one of their recent lectures across the table and it eventually caught the attention of Sun, who was never happy to be reminded of actual responsibilities which included any and all reminders that classes existed at all.

“Time for shots!” He yelled, interrupting Pyrrha mid-sentence.

Jaune, who seemed more reserved than the other guys, perked up at the mention, going as far as offering to buy the first round. He flagged down one of the waitresses faster than Blake thought him capable of. She gave Pyrrha a questioning look which was returned with a playful roll of her friend’s eyes. 

“Jaune’s enthusiasm is what I’m talking about,” Sun shouted, slapping Jaune on the back good-naturedly. “Time to get drunk!”

“Hell yeah!” Neptune joined in.

Jim laughed and took the shot offered to him but seemed more willing to go along with whatever the others decided than to be the one to start it, and her and Pyrrha followed suit.

As the drinks began to flow, so did everyone’s inhibitions fly out the window. Conversations got louder, and the boys more rowdy. Sun and Neptune turned too energetic for the confines of the table and dragged both Pyrrha and Jaune onto the dance floor, egging Jaune on by asking for some dance lessons. It wasn’t a secret that though he had little swagger, he did have more rhythm than the other boys. His pride being stroked, he spun Pyrrha gracefully onto the dancefloor, Pyrrha’s laughter faded to blend into the beat coming from the speakers. 

She and Jim fell into an easy conversation as he told her an amusing story about a younger version of him and his sister, intent on catching a dog of their very own, as if they wandered the streets of their small town like wolves did the forests up north. It ended with them catching nothing but a racoon that their mother was adamant they could not keep as a pet. She laughed with him until tears threatened to fall and ruin her make-up. As he allowed her to catch her breath he checked his phone. His smile faded as he stared at the missed number flashing across his screen.

“Is everything okay?” Blake asked, hearing the slur of her own words.

“Probably, but that was my mother. She wouldn’t be calling this late normally.”

“You should call her back then.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you alone…” He seemed torn between his duties as son and date to her. It was sweet, but completely unnecessary. 

“I’ll be fine. I won’t leave the table and I can see the others from here,” she threw a thumb to the dance floor where he confirmed it was within sight of the others. “Go call her back.”

Though she was able to follow less and less of the direction of conversation with each hour that passed, Blake somehow managed to trace exactly where every one of her drinks came from, Sunshine’s warning somehow the one rational thing still clinging to her mind. So when moments after Jim stepped out of the club to return the call and a cold glass brushed her elbow she immediately looked for its source, determined not to take a sip until someone came forward to claim the gift. Licking her lips she started at the bubbling liquid as condensation was quick to fog the outside, the longer she stared the drier her throat became. Angered at the invisible gift giver she shoved the drink across the table. 

No sooner had her hand left the glass than a pair of arms encircled her from behind. They were unfamiliar to her and bare, so she knew they could not have been Jim’s, so soon after he’d left because he was wearing another long sleeved shirt. Surprise and fear were slow to penetrate the alcohol fogging her instincts. She gripped one forearm with both of her hands and tugged, but its owner was stronger than she and it barely moved more than a couple inches. Her eyes focused in on a tattoo before a pair of lips brushed the shell of her right ear causing her eyes to involuntarily flutter shut. 

“You seemed to have learned a lesson about magically appearing drinks,” Sunshine’s voice was a full octave lower than she remembered and it caused a pleasant shudder to wrack her spine. “I promise there’s nothing in it.” One arm released her and Blake knew if she tried now she’d be able to get away with only one arm holding her to the back of her chair, but the want to free herself was quite gone now. Even with Sun’s warning ringing clearly in her mind, she liked the way Sunshine’s breath tickled the hair behind her ear, she enjoyed the smell of her perfume, and she wanted to feel her body press into her back as she reached for the glass Blake pushed away. Her longer arms grasped the glass without issue and she brought the straw to dance teasingly over Blake’s bottom lip. “Take a sip for me.” Sunshine whispered again. 

The danger she presented was all too clear now, Blake briefly chastised herself for not taking Sun more seriously earlier, but maybe she had also chosen that path deliberately. She was aware the grip she still had on Sunshine’s arm draped heavily across her chest, and though she thought of pushing her away now, her body had other plans. As her lips parted to do as they were told, her fingers gripped Sunshine’s arm tighter, not to push her away, but to press her closer.

Her reward for wrapping her lips around the straw offered her was for Sunshine’s lips to wrap around the soft tissue of her earlobe. Blake gasped at the sharp feeling of teeth nipping none too gently. It was a good thing Sunshine still held the glass, for Blake would have dropped it had it been in her hands. “Good girl,” Sunshine’s voice turned husky. It was proof that the arousal Blake was feeling wasn’t completely one sided. 

“Su-nshine,” Blake croaked. She winced embarrassed as her voice betrayed her, but Sunshine found humour in it, airily laughing at the reactions she was pulling from her. She tapped the straw to her lips again and Blake took a healthy swig to clear her throat. “What are you doing?”

“Do you want me to stop?” she made a popping sound at the last word, still refusing to give Blake the space she needed to clear her head.

“Yes,” Blake found the strength to sound convincing and she felt a twitch in Sunshine’s arm as she questioned Blake’s honesty.

“Then push me away.” 

So she did, if only to prove her wrong in some way. Blake pushed Sunshine’s arm off her chest but she didn’t move to escape even though Sunshine’s hand remained loosely resting on her shoulder and the glass still hovered at her lips. They stayed in that position for many agonizing moments before Blake found her voice again. “Jim will be back soon.”

“Then you better choose quickly.”

“Choose what?” Blake asked, turning in her seat to look Sunshine in the eyes, which were darker than Blake remembered them being.

“Not what, but whom.” The glass was abandoned on the table and Blake thought Sunshine would pull away and finally leave her. The thought caused her to grip tightly to the hand still on her shoulder. Why did she not want Sunshine to leave, even with the danger of Jim catching them in such a position? As Sunshine released the glass her hand pulled back, catching Blake under her chin, pulling her neck to the side. It was almost painful and the action nearly caused her to cry out in surprise, but a second later Sunshine’s head dipped as her lips were pressed firmly against hers.

Blake didn’t pull away. She could have, there was only Sunshine’s thumb holding her neck at the angle it was, but she realized she wanted this and as Sunshine’s lips moved she felt her jaw relax and her lips parted readily. Sunshine took the opening and teased Blake with a quick flick of her tongue. Blake moaned into her mouth, wanting something more so desperately she wasn’t sure how to voice the need. Lips continued to press into hers, harder and just as desperate as Blake felt, but her neck was beginning to ache at the angle. Instead of breaking the kiss Blake turned, placing her knees on the chair beneath her, raising her to a similar height as the bartender. Her hands came to rest on Sunshine’s broad shoulders as hers wrapped around Blake’s waist, locking together at the small of her back. Sunshine sighed against her lips, and Blake realized it must have been just as painful for her, crouched over in such a way. Her hand lifted to rub soothingly at the back of Sunshine’s neck. Blake’s thumb ran a line behind her right ear, feeling the fine feathery tickle of Sunshine’s side shave under her fingers and was surprised at how soft it felt. It was nothing like the scratchy texture she thought it would be. Amazed, she traced the zigzag pattern that seemed to be drawn there and Sunshine deepened the kiss at Blake’s actions. 

She couldn’t explain it, and she doubted a sober mind would be able to make any more sense of the situation, all she knew was that there was something between them, something so strong Blake didn't have a hope in hell of stopping.

So when Jim’s surprised shout broke through their haze, and both realized they were not alone Blake jolted. She tried to put space between her and Sunshine, but nearly tipped the chair she was still kneeling on over. Sunshine reached out, tightening her hold to save her. 

“Careful, love.” she breathed under her breath, only loud enough for Blake to hear.

“Sunshine!” Jim growled his warning, eyes wide and livid. 

She ignored him, keeping her eyes on Blake the entire time, but Blake’s eyes were wide taking in Jim’s frame. She’d never imagined him capable of such a look, and she’d been the cause. She’d willingly fallen into Sunshine’s arms, playing right into her game. Sunshine’s hold on her felt like fire, and her gaze burned as Blake refused to meet her eye. 

With the loss of Blake’s attention Sunshine seemed to resort to her previous tactic. She closed the distance and placed a feather light kiss against Blake’s jaw, below her ear. “Choose,” she whispered urgently. The desperation in her voice wasn’t something Blake could ignore and as soon as she turned to meet Sunshine’s eyes she knew, as she’d known all along, that she had already chosen.

“You,” she whispered.

It was a mad dash to the exit, but Sunshine’s hand had a firm grip of her own. Blake allowed Sunshine to lead her out of the club, not wholly unlike how Jim had escorted her in. She could hear an echo of her friends voices calling out for her, but the giddy laugh coming from the girl next to her drowned them all out. They were in a taxi, pulling away from the club before any of her friends made it to the door to stop them. Blake stared at the shrinking entrance, shocked at her own choices. She didn’t do things like this, she didn’t leave her friends to worry without giving them an explanation. 

Sunshine hooked two fingers along her jaw, pulling her gaze from the slowly disappearing club to look into her eyes once more. A pink tongue darted to moisten her lips as her eyes shifted across Blake’s features. As if unable to hold back she lunged forward to connect their lips again. How long had it been? Blake didn’t care, it had obviously been too long. She gripped the front of Sunshine’s shirt in hopes of pulling her closer. Understanding her need, Sunshine turned, half kneeling on the seat beneath them, tilting her neck, she deepened the kiss, tongue sliding against Blake’s readily parting lips. 

Blake moaned and even as the taxi driver grunted his disapproval of their activities they didn’t stop. Sunshine seemed determined to make Blake moan again, nearly crawling fully into her lap. Blake’s hands found their way under the fabric of Sunshine’s shirt and as her cool fingertips ran along Sunshine’s heated skin she gasped, releasing Blake’s lips. She stared at Blake again as her chest lifted and fell, filling her lungs with needed oxygen. Her lips were red and swollen and her hair was disheveled from their rushed escape and Blake’s hands running through it earlier. Ruffled as she was, Blake had never been so attracted or aroused by anyone as she was Sunshine in that very moment. The way Sunshine’s eyes drank her in, told Blake she felt the same. Then again, just as suddenly Sunshine lunged, removing Blake’s hands from underneath her shirt and pinning them to the seat on either side of her. Blake struggled halfheartedly but knew Sunshine’s strength was greater than her own so it was hopeless. A split second after Blake’s defeated grunt a now familiar pair of lips attached themselves to the racing pulse at her neck. A strangled groan left Blake’s lips and she tried again to free her hands with no luck. Diligent was how Blake would describe Sunshine’s movements. Just as she was on the verge of crying out in pain from her ministrations, Sunshine ran her tongue soothingly along the sensitive heated skin, blowing gently. It sent another jolt of pleasure down Blake’s spine causing her toes to curl. 

This time when Sunshine pulled away she was smiling. She tilted Blake’s neck to look at her handiwork seemingly pleased with herself. She glanced out the window with a quick flick of her eyes before she rolled off her hips to dig a hand into her back pocket. She threw a twenty at the driver as he pulled up outside of an apartment building. The trip into the building was even more of a rush than the one from the club, both feeling the need to get someplace they could truly be alone.

The second Sunshine unlocked and opened the door to her apartment Blake pushed her through, kicking the door to close behind her she pinned Sunshine to the wall opposite, capturing her lips again. It was Sunshine’s turn to moan, liking Blake’s confidence but she pushed Blake away a second later. Blake released her, taking only a half step back she scrutinized Sunshine with a tilt of her head. Is this not what she wanted? Was this not why they’d come to her apartment?

Running a hand through her hair Sunshine slid past Blake and made her way down the hall. Blake followed a moment later, not knowing what else to do. She found Sunshine in the kitchen, though it was really the same room as the living room, only separated by a small island countertop which Blake paused on the other side of. She watched as Sunshine grabbed glasses from the cupboard above the sink, filling each with an amber liquid from one of the many bottles strewn across the counter and the top of the fridge. Sunshine pushed one glass across the island to her as she turned. Blake ignored the drink and only watched as Sunshine downed hers before refilling the glass.

“Did I do something wrong?” She asked, it being the only rational reason for Sunshine’s change of mood.

“What?” she asked, glass pausing halfway to her lips, “no, of course not.”

“Then I don’t understand.”

“I just thought you could use a drink is all.”

Blake studied her for a few moments, watching as she downed the second glass. Sunshine noticed she hadn’t touched hers when she reached to refill it so she stepped around the island. Blake spun, as not to be pinned with Sunshine at her back again. She needed to watch her, study her. Oh, how she wished she could read Sunshine as easily as she did any novel, what an interesting read she would make.

Sunshine stepped close, pressing Blake against the island with her body. Blake was so distracted by her darkening irises that she didn’t notice Sunshine pick up her untouched glass until she was placing it in her hand. “Drink,” she demanded. For a split second Blake wondered what would happen if she refused, but as Sunshine’s hand guided her wrist to place the glass’ rim at her lips she knew she wouldn’t be able to deny her; that much had already been proven. So at Sunshine’s second request of “drink,” Blake did. She tipped her head back and downed the entire contents like she’d been shown. The liquid burned as it traveled down her throat. She stared at the glass fiercely as the taste lingered on her tongue long after the liquid settled warmly in her stomach. 

“What was that?” she asked, scraping her tongue against the ridges of her palate to dislodge the taste.

“Whiskey,” Sunshine supplied simply, taking the glass from her and setting it on the counter. Blake yelped when she suddenly found herself seated on the island, Sunshine moving expertly into the space between her parted knees. “Now that pleasantries are over… Where were we?” Blake’s eyes fluttered closed as Sunshine’s nose rubbed against hers, the scent of whiskey from her breath making her dizzy. “That’s right, we were right… around… here.” she punctuated each word with soft kisses to the side of Blake’s mouth before capturing her lips properly like Blake had been waiting for.

There was no slowing down this time, neither was willing to pull away and by the time Sunshine’s lips moved lower to glide along her jaw Blake’s lungs burned with lack of use and her entire body felt aflame, fed further by Sunshine’s wandering hands. It was as if they couldn’t decide where to rest, rubbing the fabric of her jeans covering her thighs, pressing firmly into each ridge of Blake’s spine, tracing the lines of her ribs through the exposed skin of her sides. Her mouth seemed just as confused, darting from the pulse at her neck, to her bared shoulders and back to breath warmly into her ear before capturing her lips in another searing kiss.

Just as Blake felt as if she’d combust into flames, Sunshine pulled back from their kiss. Blake tried to follow, missing the burn more than she did the oxygen her body sorely required. “As much as I enjoy looking at you in this shirt, it has to go.” Sunshine chuckled at Blake’s poor attempt to reconnect their mouths. She nipped at Blake’s bottom lip, running both palms up along her ribs. Blake sucked in a breath through clenched teeth as Sunshine’s movements pressed lightly over her now sensitive, hardened nipples, but she had just enough sense to lift her arms before the material was ripped from her body. 

Her bra was next to go, and Sunshine spared only enough time to throw the silk garment over her shoulder before she dipped her head to take one of Blake’s peaks into her mouth. Blake writhed and moaned, threading her fingers through Sunshine’s hair as she lathered both with equal attention. 

Realizing she was at a disadvantage, Blake grabbed a fistful of fabric at Sunshine’s back and pulled. It didn’t take more than that for the other to get her meaning. Sunshine released her nipple with a pop and Blake growled at her missing touch, cursing her own actions for causing it. But as Sunshine tossed her shirt over her head Blake’s eyes and hands found a new canvas to explore, fingers traced the ripple of toned abs she could only dream of owning and she felt the sudden urge to taste them, run her tongue over the ridges her fingers now mapped. 

It wasn’t until her fingers trailed further, to zigzag across Sunshine’s ribcage, that Blake realized she’d removed her bra whilst she was distracted. Aware of the pair of eyes watching her obsession of her abs caused Blake to pull back blushing. 

“Gods, you’re so fucking hot,” Sunshine groaned, turned on by Blake’s bashfulness, before connecting their swollen lips again. Her hands snaked under each of Blake’s thighs and lifted as Blake wrapped her arms securely around Sunshine’s neck and locked her ankles around her hips. Sunshine spun and carried her across the expanse of the living room all without interrupting their kiss. She dropped Blake onto her bed when they reached the bedroom but Blake’s grip brought Sunshine crashing onto the mattress with her. With a sharp grunt Sunshine heaved her body off of Blake, but having enjoyed the weight of her Blake pulled her back down. Sunshine laughed as she gave in, her body collapsing back on top of her.

One of Sunshine’s thighs slipped between Blake’s legs, pressing at their apex. Blake released their kiss as she moaned, her hips bucking up craving friction her jeans prevented her from fully feeling. She groaned dissatisfied as her hips fell back to the mattress. 

It didn’t take Sunshine long to rid her of the rest of her clothing, eager as she seemed to be to explore more of Blake’s body and reactions she could elicit. 

“Off,” Blake murmured between heaving breaths, tugging the button of Sunshine’s jeans free but she was ignored, enthralled as Sunshine was with kissing a wet trail down between Blake’s breasts. Her hand drifted lower, leading the trail and only when Sunshines palm cupped her sex did Blake find strength in her voice. “These go first,” she emphasized her meaning with a tug on one of Sunshine’s belt loops. 

“Mmm,” Sunshine hummed. “As you wish.” She stood to shimmy out of the tight fabric, stepping on the hem of one leg to pull the material off of her heated skin. Once completed she stood at the side of the bed, watching Blake watch her. She traced the waistband of her black panties with delicate care. “These too?” she asked with an air of innocence Blake wasn’t naive enough to believe.

“Yes, and get back in bed,” she responded with a pointed look. “I’m getting cold.”

“We can’t have that,” Sunshine answered, quickly ridding herself of the last article of clothing. She crawled her way to Blake’s body, eyes raking hungrily over Blake’s bare frame as her tongue appeared to wet her dried lips. Blake felt in part Sunshine’s prey. Wasn’t that what this same girl had warned her of not long ago? Something about not falling prey to anyone, and here she was ignoring all the warnings she’d received, from her friends and the girl in question herself.

When Sunshine settled on top of her again, this time when her thigh pressed into Blake the pleasure burned white hot. She threw her head back digging her fingers into the soft flesh of Sunshine’s sides. A happy hum sounded from the girl above her, thrilled at Blake’s responsiveness to her touch. Her lips found Blake’s pulse again, nipping at the still sensitive skin gently. Blake could feel how it stung, even at Sunshine’s light ministrations and could only imagine what kind of purple monstrosity it would look in the morning.

This time when Sunshine’s hand hovered over her sex, Blake didn’t pull away. She was surprisingly gentle in this exploration and the feather light touch was not what Blake expected, nor was it what she craved. She reached to grip Sunshine’s wrist in a desperate attempt to tell her what she needed. A warm chuckle sung into her ear was her reply.

One finger then two were slowly inserted, so agonizingly slow. Blake rocked into Sunshine’s hand, urging her for more but remained denied. Just as her frustration was reaching its peak Sunshine’s mouth left the spot on her collar where she was determined to leave another mark. Her trail started soft, lips ghosting over Blake’s breasts and ribs, but turned urgent as lips met her navel. Soft caresses of her lips and tongue turned to sharp bruising marks covering her rocking hips and Blake cried out when Sunshine’s teeth sank into the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. Sunshine froze, fingers stilling within Blake’s burning heat while her other dug dotted bruises into her hip. She counted her breaths, five, before Sunshine released her thigh to stare at the immediate angry bruise colouring the once pale skin. Eyes darted to meet Blake’s, startled with her own actions Sunshine kissed the mark, careful not to cause more harm and covered it with her palm as if she wanted to erase it from Blake’s skin as easily as her hand covered it from view.

“Sorry,” she breathed, looking Blake over again, taking inventory of the marks marring her once pristine skin. 

“Don’t stop,” Blake begged, worried her surprising actions would put an end to their activities. With Sunshine’s fingers still buried in her, Blake rocked her hips once more, telling her what she needed. It seemed to snap her out of the hesitant state she’d been thrown into because she settled again between Blake’s thighs. 

It was Blake’s first time with anyone, and she never dreamed it would feel this good. Even the bruises burned pleasantly with each ragged breath she took. It wasn’t all what she’d imagined, this wild, wanton feeling, and she wasn’t sure what she was asking of Sunshine, just that she needed more and she didn’t want her to stop. 

When Sunshine’s tongue first swiped to taste her experimentally Blake thought she would black out. White bursts exploded in her vision and the pit of her arousal resting just below her navel flared so strongly she was unable to breathe. 

As the feeling subsided Blake gasped a lungful of air. “Oh Gods,” she groaned, finding one set of her fingers entangled in Sunshine’s wild hair. She thought surely that was it, that was the climax everyone spoke of, but as Sunshine’s tongue tasted her again the feeling, the burning again spread through her in shockwaves, ringing out with a tempo of Sunshine’s fingers and mouth. As Sunshine continued, she brought Blake to a high she thought impossible. Her breaths came in shallow gasps and her entire body vibrated with pleasure. A sharp spike had Blake’s hips retreating from the friction of Sunshine’s mouth at the same time her grip on the back of her neck held her in place.

“Fuck,” Blake spat, knowing she was close to something but not knowing how to get there. 

Sunshine did, she removed her fingers to hold Blake’s hips still as her mouth surrounded the bundle of nerves responsible for most of the delicious shockwaves Blake’s body was riding. It didn’t take long for her to reach that edge and with one last swipe of Sunshine’s tongue she fell over the precipice. 

Blake gasped as the feeling washed over her, throwing her strongly into the mattress at her back. She was semi-aware of Sunshine’s lips leading a soft trail up her body and her hands soothing her heated skin. She was enjoying the gentle touches that brought her out of such a strong, sharp climax that when Sunshine’s lips met hers she was surprised at the bruising strength of them. Eyes wide, she took in Sunshine’s figure, recognizing the desperate look in her eyes as the same one most likely in her own not long ago.

Sunshine gripped Blake’s wrist in a steady hold, guiding it to where she was in need of her own friction and release. And for the first time since the club Blake blanched, pulling her wrist away as if stung. A hurt look crossed Sunshine’s eyes and she opened her mouth to say something, but kept second guessing the words as her lips moved forming silent phrases. Finally she met Blake’s eyes, “you haven’t been with a girl before.”

It wasn’t a question but Blake shook her head anyway, a new heat flushing her face. 

“The thought didn’t seem to bother you up until now.” Sunshine’s eyes narrow, and Blake realized she’d come to the wrong conclusion. She reached out to take Sunshine’s hand, but her attempt was swatted away as Sunshine scoffed angrily, pulling away to kneel at the end of the bed. “You should leave.”

“No, it’s not...” Blake tried, embarrassed at her loss of courage. “I’ve—”

“It’s fine.” 

Sunshine shifted to get off the bed and Blake surged forward wanting desperately for her to stay. She gripped Sunshine’s arm as she shuffled her still shaky legs across the large bed. “I’ve never been with anyone,” she blurted so quickly the words blended together. 

“What?”

“It’s not that you’re a girl,” Blake said slowly. “It’s that I’ve never…” She let the sentence hang, closing her eyes, not able to meet Sunshine’s astonished glare in her abashed state.

“Oh,” Sunshine’s voice broke the silence. “Oh!” she exclaimed louder. “I never would have… I mean you didn’t seem.”

“Can we not,” Blake finally found her voice. 

“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I didn’t mean to pressure—”

“Not what I meant,” Blake deadpanned, cutting her off. “I just don’t want to have a discussion about my virginity, or well… you know.”

Blake shifted, her legs giving out and she winced at the pull the movement put on her bruised thigh. Frowning she took in the damage for the first time. It already had a nasty green tinge to it and was very sensitive to the touch she noticed as she traced its outline.

“Fuck, I shouldn’t have. I mean I didn’t mean to. I just got so caught up in it.” Sunshine sighed. “You’re just really sexy and I lost control a little.”

“Sexy?” Blake raised her head, surprised at the description. 

Sunshine studied her for a moment before a smile spread across her lips, eyes blurring at a memory. “Very sexy.”

Blake blushed as Sunshine’s eyes took in her naked form again and Blake remembered what started the conversation. Wishing she had more liquid courage, but knowing if she left the bed now she’d never convince herself to return, Blake grabbed Sunshine’s wrist and yanked her from her kneeling position to lay spread across the mattress beside her and rolled over to straddle Sunshine’s hips.

“I think,” she started, placing a gentle kiss to Sunshine’s lips, “we have,” her jaw, “unfinished business,” she finished latching her lips to Sunshine’s pulse, imitating her actions.

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to,” Blake replied simply, capturing Sunshine’s lips in another searing kiss, as her hand cupped Sunshine’s breast. “I just…”

“I don’t think you need any help, I’m actually very close already,” Sunshine supplied, guessing the reason for her anxiety. “But I’ll show you what I like, if you want.”

Blake nodded, not trusting her voice before dipping her head to take Sunshine’s hardened nipple into her mouth.

“Harder,” Sunshine groaned, writhing beneath her when Blake obeyed. 

She found she liked exploring Sunshine’s body, learning which spots garnered a reaction from her and there was more than one spot she’d touched or placed her lips to that even Sunshine seemed surprised at her own reactions. As her hand explored Sunshine’s sex she found the heat almost unbearable, she couldn’t imagine how frustrated Sunshine had been thinking she hadn’t planned on returning the favour. Blake was nicer to Sunshine than she was with her, quickening her pace sooner to not add to Sunshine’s frustration. 

Kissing her way down Sunshine’s body she ran her tongue over the abs she’d been desperate to taste since her shirt had been removed. Sunshine giggled at the action and Blake did it again, enjoying her easy reaction, but when Blake mimicked Sunshine’s move to kiss lower Sunshine’s legs suddenly snapped closed and a hand wrapped around her bicep preventing her from moving lower.

“You  _ really _ don’t have to do that.” Sunshine emphasized. 

“I want to though.” Sunshine’s grip on her dropped as she leaned up on her elbows to study Blake, making sure she wasn’t just saying that. Blake only shrugged at her heavy stare and urged her thighs apart with a gentle hand. And she found that she did, she wasn’t just saying it to make up for the hurt she’d inadvertently caused. As her tongue ran the length of her copying what she remembered Sunshine doing, there was a gasp from above and Sunshine’s entire body jolted. Blake returned to the spot that caused the reaction, easily finding Sunshine’s own bundle of nerves. 

Sunshine was right, she’d been worked up and very close to orgasm and Blake was almost disappointed when too soon Sunshine moaned her name and pulled away. Blake placed a gentle kiss to Sunshine’s lips now protectively covering her clit and she heard a gentle moan leave Sunshine’s throat. Teasingly she pressed her lips to the spot more firmly causing Sunshine to pull away again, this time she was laughing. 

“Too soon... sensitive,” she murmured. 

Blake took the hint and crawled up the bed to place a kiss on Sunshine’s mouth before collapsing against the mattress. Sunshine turned to face her, “you sure that was your first time?”

“I’m sure.”

“God, with some experience I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Blake laughed as a shiver shook her, realizing how cool her bare skin now was, dry from its earlier slickness. Instinct caused her to seek out Sunshine’s warmth, tucking her head in the space beneath Sunshine’s chin and curling her body towards her. Sunshine wrapped an arm lazily over her hip, eyes still closed as she worked to steady her thumping heart rate.

“You’re freezing,” Sunshine stated, running her palm over Blake’s back. It seemed a great effort for Sunshine to lift her body to pull the comforter from underneath herself and she humphed when she succeeded lifting the fabric up she motioned Blake to join her which she gladly did.

It didn’t take long for her shivers to cease, curled up in Sunshine’s seemingly never ending body heat but neither seemed tired enough to sleep, even though their bodies were pleasantly worn down and heavy with their activities. Sunshine drew circles on Blake’s hip with the arm wrapped around her and Blake in turn wrote out passages from her favourite books on the lines of Sunshine’s ribs.

“What do I call you?” Blake spoke, breaking the silence.

Her response came with a tone of exasperation, “Sunshine.”

Realizing she’d not used the name all night it was easy for Sunshine to assume she’d just forgotten her name, or possibly hadn’t known it to begin with. “That’s not really your name.”

“It’s what I’m known as around here.”

“I’m not calling you Sunshine. It feels weird.” Blake stated, stopping her scribbles to drape her arm over Sunshine’s stomach.

“Call me whatever you like then.”

Blake scoffed, not understanding why she’d use an alias and not her real name. “You know my real name.”

Sunshine shrugged. “You could be a Jennifer for all I know.”

“Come on,” Blake leaned up onto her elbow to scrutinize her expressions easier. “I can’t call you Sunshine, it sounds like a stripper.”

Sunshine’s eyes widened, irritated at the insinuation. “Hey!”

“You know what I mean,” Blake ran her free hand from Sunshine’s hip to the side of her breast and back down. Sunshine sighed, pleased with her atonement. “It just feels dirty.”

“Maybe that’s what I like.” She smirked, pinching the skin on Blake’s ass playfully.

Blake swatted her hand but ignored the comment and continued. “Well I can’t call you Sun,” an involuntary shutter overtook her. She did not want to be using Sun’s name while with her.

“Shine then.” 

“Shine? It’s better than Sun, but only slightly.” Blake turned to drape herself over Sunshine’s body, stealing more of her heat as she rested her chin on Sunshine’s chest. “I know, I’ll call you Shy.”

“I’m many things, love, but shy is not one of them.” Running a hand through Blakes hair, she massaged the stiffness at the back of her neck before speaking. “Actually I might like that. Shy. It’s like a joke, what’s it called again, an oxy something.” 

“Moron,” Blake supplied easily, words being her forte.

“What did you just call me?” Sunshine glowered, fingers stilling their ministrations on Blake’s neck.

“No! I-it’s just-I mean,” Blake stuttered. 

Sunshine chuckled, “lighten up Kitten. I’m just messing with you. I’ve tackled my fair share of unis.”

“You… you go to university?”

“Hell no, but I’ve pinned a few uni girls in my bed. I teach them a little something, and I guess a little more than their bodies rub off on me.” Blake scoffed and rolled her eyes. She made to get up but Sunshine wrapped both arms around her to keep her still. To be fair, she hadn’t tried very hard to get away, she’d been bluffing after all.

Blake raised her brow in challenge. “And what rubbed off from me?”

“That… darling, we will have to have a few more sessions to find out.” Sunshine shot her a mischievous look, digging her fingers into the taught muscles of Blake’s back causing a pleasant moan to escape Blake’s lips.

“Oh, Really?” she questioned slyly.

“Yes.” Sunshine answered easily, wrapping a finger under Blake’s chin, “now come here.” And again, Blake was unable to deny her as she shimmied up Sunshine’s body to return the kiss offered her.

———————————————— 

_ To be devoured by another is to be consumed destructively. It might feel like bliss to the devoured, unable to see the danger to themselves as their very senses are consumed. _

In the weeks that followed the two were basically inseparable. With Sunshine working nights and Blake going to school during the day Blake ended up hanging out at the club more and more. On slow nights she where she didn’t have any assignments or tests to study for she would sit at the corner of the bar and watch Sunshine work. Blake tended to avoid the busier nights unless her friends were there, she didn’t enjoy the way the drunks hit on Sunshine, and disliked Sunshine flirting back just as much.

Thursdays tended to be Blake’s favourite; the club filled enough to have a DJ on staff which meant the dance floor held enough people for her to entertain herself watching, while at the same time the bar was never crowded enough to force her to find somewhere else to sit. One Thursday, when the bar cleared of buying customers Sunshine caught her staring at the dancefloor. “Do you want to dance?” she asked, nodding to the couples swaying to the beat.

“Solo dancing, now that’s not pathetic,” Blake retorted. Sunshine rolled her eyes but hopped to sit on the bar, swinging her legs over she jumped down, feet landing beside Blake’s stool.

“I obviously didn’t mean for you to go alone,” she responded, holding a hand out for Blake.

Smiling, she placed her hand in Sunshine’s and was led to the dance floor. It was crowded enough for them to easily get lost, away from the prying eyes of Sunshine’s coworkers, but not over crowded enough for them to be jostled around. They swayed to the rest of the current song before the DJ played one with more of a beat. Sunshine spun Blake around, stepping to mould herself to Blake’s back and wrap her arms around her middle. It didn’t take long for Blake to lose herself in Sunshine’s teasing touches, or her hips guiding hers to the music, but a commotion did capture her attention halfway through the second song. Her eyes followed the raised voices to find Sun arguing with another guy, but as she looked closer she realized the other was Jim. 

Her stomach felt leadened as Jim’s gaze met hers over Sun’s shoulder, anger and hurt residing in his eyes. Their voices grew louder as Jim pushed Sun, looking as if he wanted to get to the dance floor, but Sun refused to let him pass, shoving him in the direction of the exit instead. Jim struggled and although he had height on Sun, he did not outweigh him. 

“Don’t pay attention to him.” Sunshine spoke, spinning her away from the scene to face her once again. She tipped Blake’s chin to meet her eye, “pay attention to me.” Bending, she gently kissed Blake’s lips, and though Blake knew Jim could see she returned it, and just like that they were alone in the world once again. The only sounds were the music their bodies moved to and their own ragged breathing between kisses. The only eyes she felt on her were Sunshine’s, and before the song ended Jim had gone, and Blake never thought of him again for a long while.

She wished Sunshine could leave, Blake really wanted to get her alone, in one of their apartments preferably. She loved hanging out with her and if it had to be in the club she would do it, but after dancing with her all she wanted to do was undress her so they could move in a different type of dance.

“When are you off, Shy?” Blake asked from her usual perch at the end of the bar, pout heavily pulling at her bottom lip.

“For the fifth time, Kitten, whenever the boss lets me leave.” Sunshine smiled, pleased with Blake’s need to get her alone. They both knew what it meant, not that most of their nights didn’t end with them naked between the sheets, but it boded well for the end of Sunshine’s night that Blake couldn’t wait patiently anymore. “It’s not busy, should be soon.”

“You said that a half-hour ago.” Blake bemoaned.

“Then it should placate you for at least another one, right?”

Blake sighed but took the offered drink Sunshine placed in front of her, and just before midnight Sunshine disappeared into the back returning with both their jackets. They rushed out of the club, smiles plastered to their lips as they exchanged eager kisses as they waited for their taxi out front.

Hours later, snuggled under Blake’s cotton sheets they played an innocent game of thumb wars. It was a close call but a quick jab to Sunshine’s ticklish ribs saw Blake the winner.

“You cheated,” Sunshine pouted.

“And you kissing my neck last round wasn’t cheating?” Blake accused, sitting up from where she was reclined against Sunshine’s chest.

“It’s not cheating if it’s sexy.” Sunshine stated, pulling her back into her arms with little struggle from Blake.

“Either way, it’s my turn to ask you a question.” Blake settled, playing with Sunshine’s fingers as she thought of the many questions she’d been wanting answers to over the past weeks. Sunshine was very protective of her past and though Blake knew the importance of one’s privacy, she also just really wanted to get to know Sunshine better.

“Damn, I had a good one for you.” Sunshine sighed, holding the finger Blake was trying to bend rigid. 

“Then save it for when you next win, this one is mine.” Blake frowned at Sunshine’s attempt to thwart her side game of memorizing her hands. She attempted to bite the offending finger that refused to bend and that was all it took for Sunshine to give in, letting Blake enjoy her silent game in peace. “Why’d you come to Cali?” she finally asked.

It was eerily silent as Blake waited for Sunshine to respond. By any other standards it was a harmless question. Blake had come here for school, but she doubted Sunshine’s reasons were as simple. “I needed to get away,” she finally replied.

“From what?”

“Nope, that’s not how this works,” Sunshine tickled Blake’s sides as penance for jumping the queue in their version of twenty questions. “One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war. Go!”

“You lose again,” Blake teased after the shortest war in the history of thumb wars.

“I just can’t catch a break,” Sunshine sighed, unclenching her hand for Blake to continue tracing the lines of her palm.

“What were you running from?” 

Sunshine groaned at Blake’s quick question. “You know I don’t like talking about it.”

“I don’t even know what  _ it _ is,” Blake complained. “Maybe if I knew a little… I might understand more of why you don’t want to talk about it.

“Family,” Sunshine gave in, “I was running from my family.”

“Why?” When Sunshine opened her mouth to argue the rules of the game Blake hurried to cut her off. “Please, It’ll take me hours to win enough rounds to get the full story.”

“Maybe that’s the point,” Sunshine agreed, “I’m betting on your inability to stay awake to my advantage.”

“I fell asleep one time,” Blake automatically defended, it having been a card Sunshine particularly enjoyed playing to her advantage.

“More than I have.”

“You’re a night owl, now answer my question.”

Sunshine was silent for several minutes as Blake studied the chinese characters marked into her forearms. She’d never asked what they meant, perhaps the next time they played she would ask. There were several moments when Blake thought of taking the question back, asking another that would not upset her so, but she felt an almost need to know “I didn’t have a good upbringing,” Sunshine finally started. “It’s as simple as that. I was an only child and my parents hated each other. They only stayed together because of me, which my mother frequently reminded me of.” When Sunshine paused, Blake stayed silent,not wanting to interrupt if she wasn’t done. This was probably the only time she’d get the answers she wanted. “I grew up listening to their arguments get louder and more hurtful over the years,” she finally continued. “I watched them think up new, ridiculous ways to hurt the other. Cheating, addictions, abuse of every kind.”

“Shy,” Blake spoke softly, gripping her hand tightly in her own. She wasn’t sure how to comfort her from a past so far distant. It was as if she needed protection from the ghost of the life that followed her and Blake had no experience in that kind of pain.

“It’s fine, I’m fine.” Sunshine was quick to calm Blake’s agitation. She just wished she could do the same for her. “That’s why I came out here. Not like they could find me even if they knew where to look, and I don’t need them screwing up my life anymore than they already have.”

“That’s why you use an alias?”

“Partially, I also like how it gives me an easy starting over point. When I move on I just change my name and start over, be whoever and whatever I want.” Sunshine smiled wistfully and Blake wondered how many times she’d decided to pack up and move, but that was a question she was too afraid to ask, so instead she chose a safer one. One Sunshine could easily lie to her about.

“You’re not planning on leaving anytime soon are you?”

Knowing what she was asking, Sunshine kissed Blake’s bare shoulder and tugged her more tightly into her embrace. “That’s one too many questions for your turn, but I think I like it here.”

——————————————

_ Strong feelings can grow from something simple, even if you try to stop it. Taking that leap may leave you with all you ever wanted or dreamed, or... _

Blake’s hands fisted the sheets underneath her, tossing her head back she let out a strangled sound. It only proved to spur Sunshine on further, doubling her effort between Blake’s thighs as she pumped curling digits into her. For the third time that night Sunshine guided Blake to a climax stronger than the last. Blake’s heart raced and her legs were cramping in their tensed position but she didn’t care, she felt absolutely amazing, and Sunshine’s smug smile hovering over her caused Blake to laugh, giddy and happy.

“God, I think I’m in love with you.” It slipped out unexpectedly. Blake was sure her orgasmic bliss fogged brain meant it as a joke, but the tensing of Sunshine’s shoulders told her it didn't come off that way.

It had been six weeks since they started whatever this was, and what started as simple fun, soon turned to consume Blake’s very being. She’d known for a while how she felt for Sunshine, though with her flighty ways and adamant speeches of not getting tied down Blake knew better than to voice them. With a sober mind she  _ knew _ better.

“Shy, I didn’t mean—” Blake spoke, rushed to fix whatever her words may have broken.

“I know,” Sunshine cut her off, “don’t worry about it.”

“I really… It was just a joke, a saying.” Blake tried again, needing Sunshine to understand she hadn’t meant the words, even if she had.

“Yeah,” Sunshine stated simply, falling on to her back beside Blake.

Blake turned to observe her for several minutes. The blank way she stared at the ceiling tiles above the bed unnerved her in a way she hadn’t ever been in Sunshine’s presence. “We’re still good right?”

“Of course, why do you ask?”

“Because you’re way over there and we usually cuddle after.” Blake motioned to the space growing cold between them on the mattress.

Sunshine turned, taking in the gap between them with dull eyes.“I just need a drink, do you want one?” she asked, quickly sitting up and tossing a shirt over her head.

“No, I’m good.”

“I’ll be right back”

Though she could hear Sunshine moving about the apartment, the distance between them seemed to grow further than the simple dozen feet from Sunshine’s bedroom to the kitchen. She’d screwed up, she knew she did, but how could she fix it if Sunshine refused to let her talk about it?

Twenty agonizing minutes later Sunshine returned, the taste of whiskey strong on her breath, but she smiled at Blake and quickly joined her beneath the sheets. And as Sunshine threw off her shirt again, removing the barrier between them Blake felt as if things would be okay. She allowed the familiar taste of whiskey to drown her senses as Sunshine urged her legs apart so she could rest between them. 

Everything would be fine. 

Sunshine’s touches began to wander and her lips moved more urgently against hers.

Things would go back to normal.

As Sunshine buried two fingers into her, and the familiar feeling of arousal, and now love flickered in her belly Blake nearly forgot the feel of the chasm that grew between them mere minutes prior.

They both wanted this, and things would be fine.

——————————— 

_ Love has a way of destroying as easily as it heals. _

She was wrong; things would never be the same again. Blake awoke the next morning to an empty bed. A text from Sunshine glared brightly at her sleep-filled eyes. It was simple and stated only that Sunshine had to leave early to get some things sorted at work. Knowing it was Saturday, their busiest day and knowing Sunshine went in early to make sure clean up had been done the night before, Blake didn’t question it.

But when she got out of her evening class to find no messages from her at all an unpleasant feeling started to nag at the back of her mind. Sunshine always messaged her while she was in class. Sometimes it was a ridiculous joke, or a pun she knew would make her smile if she knew the class was a particularly boring or hard one, or sometimes it was a quote from one of Blake’s favourite authors that she was meant to guess who from, but there was always a text, always.

After going home to shower and change she rushed to the club, hoping to catch Sunshine before the rush started. She must have looked frantic as she approached the bar because the few people waiting to place orders parted for her to pass without question. 

Velvet, the barback that organized everything for Sunshine and the other two bartenders approached her when she caught sight of her. Blake opened her mouth to ask if Sunshine was in the back but Velvet pulled an envelope from her apron pocket before she could. She held it out to Blake with a look of pity and Blake took a step back, not understanding what the meaning of it was. But she did, she’d known since the words left her lips the night before. 

Sunshine was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TO BE CONTINUED
> 
> I have this mostly complete. I'm sad to say that I've had a lot happen in the past few months, I lost my job due to Covid and had to move back to Canada from the UK. Starting all over again was a stress in itself, but life has a way of throwing us curveballs, and the second I thought I was back on track my mother got suddenly ill and she passed away earlier this month. It's been a year I wish I could erase, or get a redo but I know that's not something that's going to happen. 
> 
> Through all the negatives of this year, I can be grateful my lost job gave me a few short months with my mother before she passed, and that my friends and family have been there for me every step of the way because without them I'd not have been able to get through the past couple weeks at all.
> 
> And though Battlesnow has been very understanding, I still regret not being able to finish this in time for their art to have been completed for the final two pieces. I have the next part done, but since I just finished and the art has not been done to accompany it I will just post these two chapters for now. In a few days I will post the third and the final chapter I'll post when it's done.
> 
> So sorry to disappoint you all with an unfinished piece.


End file.
